His sword, Her words, and the Third-wheel
by worldreminiscence
Summary: In Gintama world, titles are meant to be random but with an actual meaning. Okita Sougo knew this very well - "Oi, who's the third-wheel!" "You're so noisy, Hijikata-san. You're driving the viewers away. See?" "Tosshi isn't scary, you stupid brat Okita!" Well, let's see how things are going to work out if Kagura is with Hijikata instead of the Yorozuya. Okita x Kagura x Hijikata.
1. Chapter 1: Escape

**A/N(Author's Note)**: Hello everyone! I know I haven't updated the other fanfics for a long time but the idea of this fanfic just popped out in my head from nowhere and I had to write it. By the way, this is already a completed fanfic so no worries about updates. There are 12 chapters overall. YEY! I should have done the same way with my other fanfics before... Oh yeah, this is my first Gin-tama fanfic. : )

Along with this new story, I also updated my SasuHina fanfic so I kinda feel satisfied... just a bit. I really have to finish them... ;_; why do ideas pop out from nowhere anyway?! and then they won't leave my head, silly head of mine.

**Disclaimer**: I do NOT own Gin-tama anime/manga and its characters except for this storyline.

I hope you enjoy! This is a mixed Drama, Comedy and Romance.

* * *

Chapter 1:

Escape

He had nowhere to go to.

Nowhere to go back to.

But still, he had to _run_. Run fast. With all his remaining strength.

Or else it would be over for him. Everything would be _over_ for him. This was his only chance. If he wouldn't be able to escape, hell would be welcoming him.

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

He could see himself, wounds all around his arms, on his face, neck. _Fresh wounds_. It looked like he took a bath of blood, his black shirt was a mess, with cuts here and there. The mirror reflecting himself looked as if it was laughing at him.

He looked miserable.

..._Oi_. _Oi_!

...

Voice? Who?

The mirror in front of him broke into pieces as his eyes slowly widened. Then he heard the voice again. So he was inside a dream. Now that he thought of it, he was in a dark place. Nothing was surrounding him, just pure black. Endless black.

Wait. What if this wasn't a dream? What if he was already dead and now he was in hell? And what if the one calling him was the demon itself?

He was about to turn his head to look behind him when he heard a loud thud.

"Oi, wake up already. If you don't properly answer, I'll send you straight to hell right now, you brat."

Now, he was wide awake. And the first thing his eyes saw was a pair of blue eyes staring right into him. It took him a few more seconds before he realized that the loud bang he heard was from right beside his left ear. His face turned to the side and he blinked. It wasn't that he was suddenly afraid of this stranger facing him. It was just that...

..._Would someone normally punch a hole beside a sleeping person_...?

He sat up, bumping the forehead of the stranger. That hurt, of course, but he was more taken aback by what the frantic stranger did a while ago.

"That hurts, you stupid! Is that what you do to your savior!"

"What?"

Savior? And it was a girl. The stranger was a girl. The one who almost punched a hole in his face! He choked. Putting his left hand on his mouth as he coughed, he looked at the girl who sat on the floor. Her hair was the color of mixed orange and pink...? Her skin was pale white, and she was wearing a red china dress with two slits on each side. She had no sleeves which made her pale skin even more eye-catching.

Why was he with a cosplaying girl? He remembered escaping from a bunch of bastard amantos... not playing a stupid mama-papa game with some weird-looking girl. So what now? Why was he at a small house he couldn't recognize, with this girl?

"Who are you? What savior are you talking about?"

"Hah! Be thankful to this Kagura-sama! I saw you lying down on a road with bunch of bad-looking guys beating you down, so I kicked them away. You looked like a ragged doll you know? What did you do to those guys to make them that mad at you?"

Ahh... She saved him from those bastards. Great. His life was saved but now he was indebted to a little girl. Heaving a sigh, he nodded at the girl to show that he understood.

"Did you just sigh? What's with the boring reaction eh? And you were saved by this Kagura-sama, so bow your head!"

"Huh? I don't remember asking you for help so why would I bow my head, stupid girl."

"What did you say, this ungrateful brat!"

"You're a brat too!"

They were bickering and yelling at each other when another voice joined in, stopping them from quarreling.

"Oi oi, stop fighting you two. Kagura, he's still injured so let him be for now."

"Tosshi!"

A tall man with black hair came in and walked until beside the girl. He was wearing a navy blue yukata. His appearance looked more normal... but then shouldn't the girl be wearing a yukata as well or at least something that didn't define weird? Okay, maybe they were not normal.

"Sorry for that. How are you feeling now?"

"Not bad... Anyway, you two, why are you helping someone you don't know?"

"I'm Hijikata Toshirou, this girl here is Kagura. You?"

Seemed like they weren't going to answer his question. But why? Why would they help a stranger like him? There weren't any merit for them.

"Okita."

"Your first name?"

"Do I have to say?"

"You brat, we're being kind here you know!" The china girl grabbed his collar.

"Kagura, that's fine, come here. Okita... rest for now. If you get hungry, just call to either one of us."

"...Tosshi and I are really nice. But I'm not as patient as him eh, you got that stupid brat?"

"Yeah I got it very well, stupid brat."

He repeated what she called him in a sarcastic manner however the girl named Kagura only let go of him without uttering any more word, then she ran after the man. They both left the room, giving him a temporary space for himself alone.

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

Kagura followed Hijikata to his room. She didn't like that guy. Why did she even bother saving him...? Oh yeah, she was too nice to walk away after seeing someone being beaten down by a bunch of freaks. And he looked as if he was about to die in a minute was she to abandon him right back then.

But who knew he'd be a rude brat? she wanted to strangle him so bad.

"Tosshi, that guy-"

"Ahh. I know someone before with the same surname as him..."

"Eh? Who?"

"Someone... from past. Anyway, you brought that guy yesterday night. What exactly happened?"

"Yeah, he's a rude brat."

"...I wasn't asking about that."

Kagura put her arms across her chest as she sat on the bed beside Hijikata.

"He..."

. . . . .

_Kagura was on her way home, nibbling on her favorite sukonbu when she heard people shouting something she couldn't understand. There were running footsteps, ragged breathes and a sound of clashing blades. She followed the sounds, curious as to what all the commotions was about.._

_She raised an eyebrow when she saw men, probably with a number of eight to ten, cornering one young man. She actually didn't want to step into their business but he was already lying down and almost taking a bath in his own blood, his wounds were clearly seen and he was almost like... out of breath. By the time she walked towards them, he was already unconscious._

_"Oi, what are you doing?"_

_"Haah? Who are you-"_

_Kagura sent the creep who spoke flying backwards with her kick. The other freaks around her gasped and glared at her. They all had this similar creepy shape of face that made her stomach churn._

_Why the heck do they look like cockroaches? She hated cockroaches, creepy! Ah yeah, amantos eh? She was an amanto as well but she didn't look anything horrible like them. What a bad image!_

_Kagura glared back, pointing her umbrella at them as they all ran towards her at once. Wasting no time, she shot at them and jumped above, stepping onto their faces one by one. Then she did a forward somersault and kicked one on the stomach, the other one on his side. She shot again at the remaining others but none of them she directly hit the vitals. She just wanted to drive them away and she won by frightening them off._

_"Y-you... Everyone, let's go! Get the sword! Hurry!"_

_"Hah! Losers!"_

_Kagura snorted before running close to the unconscious guy. She checked his pulse on the neck and fortunately, he didn't seem to die from all the blood loss. What a durable body huh? She took and carried him on her back, he was taller than her but his weight didn't bother her one bit. Not knowing what else to do or where to bring the guy, she decided to take him with her._

. . .

"So he was being targeted by those amantos... Something strange you saw about them?"

"Hm, I don't know eih."

_Bang_. Hijikata and Kagura jerked their heads towards the door. Okita was leaning on the wall, out of breathe and glaring at Kagura. Then he walked to her, grabbing both her arms.

"The sword. You let them take the sword! Without that, there's no point that I survived!"

"Hoh, eavesdropping eh? Bad habit we have there, don't we. And sword? I don't know such thin-"

_"Y-you... Everyone, let's go! Get the sword! Hurry!"_

"Ah. It was that sword."

Did Kagura perhaps, let those freaks take some important thing...? But she didn't know! It wasn't her fault. Damn this guy. Kagura slapped Okita's hands away as she stepped closer to him, their faces inches close.

"Look, I don't care about your sword okay? You should be thankful I even helped you. And now you're acting all high and mighty ahh? If you died, then the more you can't take back that thing eih!"

...

"... My bad."

Okita turned around and walked off. Hijikata could only stare at the two, while Kagura could only remain still there.

. . .

. . .

Okita was seething in anger, but she had a point. Still, he almost lost his life protecting that sword just to be stolen away from him again. If only he was at a good condition yesterday, he could have just slashed them all to death... How irritating.

Next time, he would make sure to take that sword back again, no matter what.

* * *

What do you think everyone? I'd appreciate any feedbacks! And if you found any errors or spelling mistakes, please don't hesitate to point out. I don't have any beta-reader, I had to reread this many times before uploading here but I still might have missed some mistakes... Sorry for that!

Anyway thank you for reading. And... ahem*cough*... I'm also a Hijikata x Mitsuba shipper but I find Hijikata x Kagura kind of cute and I find Okita x Kagura x Hijikata extremely adorable, I don't know why. I love Okita x Kagura the most though.  
Please respect my preference in pairings.


	2. Chapter 2: Bonds

**A/N: **Hello! It's been a week already... I was going to upload this chapter earlier but the beta-reader is always gone for she was busy with her school so I thought I'd just edit it myself and update already. So I'm sorry if there were mistakes/errors, English is my second language... I'm not fluent with it. Please do point out if you found one, I'll appreciate it. : )**  
**

Hope you enjoy! Thank you for reading and thank you **Yami no Saku-chan**, **Guest**-san, **dentedileone**, **Conny C** and **HeheSmile** for the reviews on the previous chapter. Made me happy! :D

**Disclaimer**: I do NOT own Gin-tama anime/manga and its characters except for this storyline.

* * *

Chapter 2:

Bonds

Yesterday was chaotic. Everything was a mess. Okita thought he was finally able to take back what should be in his possession, then he was caught and attacked, so he ran off but couldn't fully escape and was beaten up, and then someone came so he survived but then the sword was taken away again. And _now_ he was resting at the house of his so-called savior. It really didn't convince him that they were keeping him without any intention, there should be one. After all, no one would do something that was plainly out of kindness.

_Knock_.

Okita was lying down in the futon, his injuries still hurting a lot. So he didn't feel like answering to the person knocking on the door. He could just pretend that he was sleeping...

"Oi! I know you're awake."

The voice was from the girl he had quarreled with yesterday. What did she want? He didn't want to deal with her period tantrums, he had enough already. He tried ignoring her, feeling too heavy to even speak one word with her. But she wouldn't just stop knocking. Alright, she was definitely doing it on purpose. Who the heck would knock continuously in a rhythmical manner? She was like the tick-tock of a clock!

_Kon. Kon. Kon. Kon. Kon_ ―

_..._

Fine!

Okita sat up, massaging his shoulder for a second before standing up to walk to the door. The girl seemed to realize that he was now awake and was ready to answer to her demand for she had stopped knocking on the door. But as he was about to touch the knob, the door flew open making him stumble backwards, and the girl landing a perfect front kick on his face.

"Hoyaah!"

"Ow!"

The heck?

His injuries weren't healed yet right? Now he had new one to keep! And for the freak of it all, it just had to be his face. It hurt! He was sure his forehead would swell and his nose would be bleeding.

"Ah, you wouldn't answer right away so I thought you were trying to play hide and seek with me."

"What the fuck is that!" Okita massaged his nose. Ow.

"Look what you've done, tsk tsk. You made me destroy the door."

Did she just snort at him? He... He swore he saw her snickering at him just now. See? She had those eyes of her laughing like a maniac at him! He glared at her as he helped himself up from the ground.

"Don't make it sound like it was my fault, you brat."

"Ahh? It _is_ your fault, don't make it sound like I'm pointing other's fault at you, you brat."

This stupid girl...

. . .

After probably a half an hour session of quarreling about whose fault it was that the door was knocked down, Okita and Kagura were now silent and not speaking one word to each other. Scratch her being quiet for the meantime, because there was only one thing unbelievable for him right now... She was attending to his injuries. So she also knew some girly stuffs huh. Oh right, it was not really that girly thing, a man could do so too. But really? She was so annoying earlier and now she had this expression like she was actually serious on changing the bandages that was wrapping around his chest and arms. On top of that, she looked like she was pained.

When they stopped arguing, she suddenly told him to take off his shirt and so he teased her about wanting to bed him right after making him angry but his joke was answered by a punch on his stomach. That really hurt too. The girl didn't know jokes.

"Oi, is that sword that important to you?"

Okita turned his head to look at Kagura. She wasn't looking at him, just kept on wiping his arm with a cold, wet towel. But he could tell that she was really being serious this time.

"Yeah."

"So... Fine. Sorry about that."

"What?"

He doubted his ears. Was she saying sorry? If not, what did he just hear? Imagination, right, imagination.

"I said sorry eih damn brat. I only paid attention to you back then, it's just... I didn't know what to do if you died on me there huh."

"..."

To be honest, Okita didn't want to recall anything from yesterday's happening for now. But she looked really apologetic, so he gave her a nod reassuring her that he was not mad at her about it anymore.

The girl talked no more after that. When she finished wrapping new bandages at the injured spots of his upper body, she left the room but came back as quick with a tray on her hand, which he knew would be his food. He raised a brow, suspicious of what she could be thinking but thanked her anyway. She then left right after leaving the tray of food beside him.

He didn't want to eat anything from a stranger. Heck, he really had no intention to do so but he was hungry, no doubt about that. His growling stomach was the very proof and he couldn't just ignore it. But what if it had poison?

Okita took the bowl of soup, lifting it up close to his face. He sniffed but no sign of anything dangerous. As a child of someone expert at medicines, he knew a lot about different kinds of medicines, poisons, antidotes... Oh well, seeing no harm on the food, it wouldn't hurt to taste right? His stomach deserved some.

He sipped a spoon full, then one more, and more. He was really hungry... But he felt strange. He thought the soup was not bad... He finished the bowl but he was too focused on filling in his stomach that he didn't take notice of how slowly the taste had changed as he sip on it.

...

Hm...?

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

Kagura laughed in victory after hearing Okita calling out to her angrily. She put tabasco in that miso soup. Her apology was real... But she just couldn't behave so much right? He deserved that for being rude anyway!

"Wahahaha ―!"

"Kagura."

She stopped laughing right away when Hijikata called to her, and she turned to look at him. He didn't seem to find out yet what she had done to the door and to that stupid guy. Well, she could just make excuses later.

"How is he doing?"

"He's fine Tosshi! Oh? I thought it's your day off today."

Hijikata was wearing his usual Shinsengumi uniform, white shirt under the black jacket paired with black pants and of course black leather shoes. Yup, he looked cool as always.

"Tosshi, you look cool ne! What's our food for the dinner?"

"I'll just surprise you, does that sound good?"

"Hyahoooh!"

Kagura nodded, eager for the night to come right away. Hijikata was a nice person despite his appearance. His eyes were fierce, and he always had his usual cigarette occupying his mouth. If it weren't for his police uniform and his hair that was neatly cut, he would look like a leader of yakuza. Kagura smiled and chewed on her sukonbu.

"Ah right, Kagura, don't let your guard down around that guy okay?"

"Huh? Who do you think I am Tosshi, don't worry!"

"No... you're still a girl and he's a boy."

Hijikata placed his hand on her head. She just nodded, understanding what he meant. Or so she thought. He returned her smile just a little bit before grabbing his sword, then he left. Now she was bored again. It was like this everyday... Well at least, there was someone she could bother for now.

She was about to visit Okita's room once again when she was stopped in the shoulder by the very person she was thinking of going to just seconds ago. He was grabbing her, with a menacing aura.

"You damn girl! You put tabasco in the soup!"

"O~ I did."

"What's with that reaction like it was a normal thing to do ahh?"

"Be thankful that I even put water as a set."

"That's not the point!"

Okita pinched her cheeks, startling her but she wouldn't just let him do all the good things. Kagura pulled on his hair hard, and so their pinch-and-pull war began.

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

Their patrol was the same as always. If there were no big events or difficult cases to solve, then no changes in the routines. Honestly, he thought it was pretty boring but he'd never tell that to the commander. Also, he had no right to complain, as he was fortunate enough to have a decent and stable job, not to mention... they were being paid fairly. What else could he ask?

Hijikata was the man known as the devil vice-commander of Shinsengumi. Almost everyone feared him; his followers, civilians, children... Not that he could do anything about it. He had to be feared anyways, in order to let people know that he was not going to tolerate any bad deeds. Anyone needed to be jailed, would be jailed. Be it his relatives, friends, his important person... relationships shouldn't matter when it came to his job. It was his duty to catch anyone who committed crime or things that were against the law.

Speaking of everyone fearing him and about his important person... In his past, there was once an important woman for him, the one who he fell in love with, but as fate decided to take twists, a disease took her life away from him. Now though, there was one in his present whom he cared about the most: Kagura. She was a girl who ate too much, did things on her own, most of the time she was careless, sometimes annoying and she could be really mean to anyone, including him. But she didn't fear him. She didn't judge him. She was one of the most important person for him now and did he mention that she had her own cute moments? He also knew that she really cared for him as well.

This was probably why deep inside, he felt a bit competitive with that guy, Okita. He looked near Kagura's age, it wouldn't surprise Hijikata if Kagura developed closer bond with him. Of course there was no way that Hijikata would not allow Kagura to be friends with him, nor would he react if she ever find a special relationship with that guy that she couldn't with him.

Hijikata wouldn't blame her. He was almost always gone for work, leaving Kagura alone. And when he came home, mostly he was already too tired to be able to keep up with her even though he knew that she looked for company... A company he couldn't fully give her. He was thankful though that she understood their situation.

. . .

Hijikata continued to walk around the Kabuki Street, looking out for any strange behaviors from anyone. So far, there was none. He could almost decide that he would be going back to Shinsengumi with no new reports. If it weren't for two men who bumped into him along the way.

One of them stared at him bewildered, and the other one bowed and hurriedly walked away from him gesturing on the other to follow him quick. Hijikata raised one eyebrow, both his hands on his pocket as he stood still on his spot. He shouldn't find them weird right? Because there were cases like that with him every time. Why? Well, he was feared, so it wasn't surprising to see such reactions from anyone who made contact with him. But there was something off about those two... Something he couldn't put his finger on.

So he decided to follow them, and it seemed like his instincts were right. He was led into a place that looked like a basement for amantos and humans to meet for forbidden transactions. He made it sure that no one saw him spying on them, as he couldn't afford being caught as of now. He was alone. There were many of them.

_Amanto and human dealers huh?_

This wasn't unusual. Shinsengumi had solved many cases like these. Only one thing different this time... He saw one of the amantos holding a long silver sword that turned into... green...? when he used it to cut packages that contained some black powders in small plastics. Why would they use a sword for that? And why did those amantos seem familiar...

A sword. Amantos looking like cockroaches. Hijikata browsed through the history of his memory from yesterday. Then it clicked.

Okita talking about a sword and Kagura describing about amantos looking like cockroaches.

* * *

I make Kagura say "eih" in this fanfiction as a substitute for her supposed-to-be Chinest accent "-aru" in the original manga/anime. I hope that doesn't bother anyone.

Have a good day/night everyone!


	3. Chapter 3: Kagura and Hijikata

**A/N**: Chapter 3! :D No beta-reading too... but I hope you like it! When I reread this chapter, I found some errors and fixed it. But English is really hard ;-;

Still, I Hope you enjoy! Thank you for reading and thank you **Yami no Saku-chan**, **Guest**-san, **dentedileone**, **Conny C**, **HeheSmile **and **Laura** for the reviews on the previous chapters.

**Disclaimer**: I do NOT own Gin-tama anime/manga and its characters except for this storyline.

* * *

Chapter 3:

Kagura and Hijikata

At her home planet, every place was surrounded with darkness. It was always raining. The house where she was living in went dead when her mother died, she was probably just ten years old back then. Her father always left her all alone, saying he had to go to work and he rarely came home. And her elder brother who she admired greatly also left her to go somewhere out of her reach. She was always left all alone.

Why? She had no idea. What did she do wrong anyway? She was a kind little girl who only wanted her family to be complete and happy. But they were like leaves of a tree... Once fell off, would never come back to where it came from. Her family was once completed but in the end, they were all separated from each other so easily.

Kagura thought that if she'd be alone anyways then she'd better be in an awesome place, and so she also left the house when she finally reached the age where she could already handle herself alone outside. She was fourteen when she traveled into the planet called 'Earth'. She had been hearing a rumor that the planet was beautiful and that there were lots of interesting things in it. From that very moment, she decided to visit the place someday.

The planet 'Earth' exceeded her expectation though. It was indeed a beautiful planet, and the living things called 'humans' were kind and considerate. But also, as much as every other planets had the good and bad side, the 'Earth' also had one. Her first day in it was fun but in the end, she realized she neither had money nor foods to eat and she was hungry.

On the verge of losing hope, someone offered her help, and she thought it was all good until she found out that she was doing something illegal and that she was only being used so she stopped. Well, they were annoying freaks who targeted her life when she said she'd quit. After all of what she'd done for them! Ungrateful morons.

But Kagura thought it was a fate. She met Hijikata right after that incident. She was able to get rid of them without killing them off, and she was picked up by Hijikata that moment. She had no place to go to, no money to buy food for herself let alone to buy ticket for her to go home. Luckily, when she was crossing road, a patrol car hit her. Not actually hit, to be honest. It was nothing to her, she was an amanto and one who belonged to the space's strongest clan; Yato. But the man driving the car felt guilty and brought her to the hospital anyway.

Well, she was happy to have met him there! It didn't matter how they met, what mattered was that they met. Yep, definitely a fate. She finally found someone who'd be with her. She still remembered how he looked very troubled about her at first, it was hilarious.

...

...

Kagura chuckled as she ate potato chips in the kitchen. Okita was unconscious on his futon, she made him so. Hah, that served him right for not being grateful to her. How dare he belittle this Kagura-sama! She snorted.

Still, she couldn't help but look at the clock. It was already seven o'clock in the evening, Okita had been unconscious since around four, he had been like that for three hours. Kagura didn't want to hear lectures from Hijikata so she finished her chips quickly so that she could check on that brat. She didn't overdo it okay? She was convincing herself.

Oh well... Kagura shrugged as she walked to the room where he was in. The door remained unfixed so there was no hassle turning the knobs every now and then. Maybe they should just not use doors inside the house.

Okita was there lying down peacefully on the futon. There was no abnormality in his breathing so she guessed he was fine after all. She walked closer and stared at him. She just noticed now how he almost had a perfect face. He had fair skin. His eyes, even when closed, looked beautiful with his eyelashes fairly long. His nose was balanced to the size of his face, and his lips well shaped as if it was drawn to fit there.

So frustrating. How could someone look as good as this guy was? Hmm... Kagura crossed her arms above her chest. She wanted to make fun of this annoyingly charming face, but what could she do... Ah!

She just thought of a good idea!

"Oi." Kagura kicked his leg lightly to see if he'd wake up.

No answer.

"Oi, you listening?" just one more light kick.

Yet again, no answer. Right! she ran outside as quick as she could then went back to Okita's room with a marker pen on her hand. She crouched beside his head, and opened the marker. Her tongue was stuck out on the side as she drew a rainbow-shaped curve line above his closed eyes, then a circle inside and three short lines on the top creating fake eyelashes. It looked like he had his eyes open but then it was just a drawing.

Kagura was suppressing her laugh at the sight of him. Hm, what about his cheeks? She drew circles on each side then lines around them creating two perfect sun on his face.

_Pffft._

_Bahahaha_! He looked like a crazy clown! She should have red marker to draw red line around his mouth, too bad she only had black one. But it was hilarious anyway. Kagura couldn't contain her laughter anymore, she sat on the floor and burst out laughing. She seemed to wake Okita up with that though.

"...So noisy... What's going on?"

Kagura pointed at his face and laughed even more. Then she threw a small mirror at him.

"You can look good sometimes eih!"

"Huh?"

Okita took the mirror. Kagura could see him widening his eyes at the sight of himself. Sensing some dangerous aura, Kagura stood up and ran off while still laughing.

"Damn you, china girl!"

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

Okita was always thankful to his fast agility. He surpassed every classmates of his in kendo class when he was a kid. He was expert at handling swords and he was proud of it. Of course, not only when he had swords, he was also excellent even when fighting bare hands.

And he barely lost to any competitions, or fights. He was also expert when it came to medicines and types of powders. Yes. Never had he felt inferiority towards anyone... No one had ever embarrassed him until now. Until now!

Shame on him, honestly. It was a little girl making him lose his cool demeanor. How the heck did she do that? It was really irritating. Okita couldn't catch the china girl, now what? If he was the best then she was the best of best? Like he'd allow that! But... it felt as if they had been going around the house for about an hour already yet he couldn't even grasp a strand of her hair.

...

Well, he wouldn't give up anyways so just see... He'd eventually catch the mouse... Okita jumped off the sofa and ran towards Kagura, extending his arm forward. She did a backflip, carefully dodging a chair behind her. As if! Okita doubled his jump forward in an instant, leaving no time for Kagura to escape, or so he assumed. But as he thought he was able to grab her arm, she crouched down and swayed her leg under him from behind, tripping him in the process. He gritted his teeth as he fell down on his butt. Ow.

"Hah! You lose for thinking that you can overpower me!"

It hurt but... This was the chance!

Okita wasted no second. He grabbed Kagura's one leg, pulling her down on the floor beside him then he blocked her way by hovering over her before he pinched her cheeks.

"Oww, ow ow ye damn bashtard!"

"You think I can't overpowe-?!"

Kagura glared at him and gripped his wrists then proceeded to take one of his hands. Using brute force, she was able to bring that hand close to her mouth and...

"Owww! Why you?!"

Okita hissed in pain. He got off of Kagura, his hand being his priority. He caressed his wrist and looked at his fingers. She just bit him. _Bit_ him. Too late when he was about to scold the girl, she was already gone.

"..."

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

Kagura escaped from Okita because she just didn't want to continue messing around anymore. They were going to destroy the house in that state, and she wasn't in the mood to make more excuses to Hijikata. Well, it was a good match-for her, it was a match- and she was pretty amused that he could at least keep up with her. That was quite convenient. It was the first time that she thought she wanted a company aside from Hijikata ever since she came under his care.

Not that Okita would ever win her attention more than Hijikata did since Kagura liked that cigarette-addict guy the most. Yep. Hm. Hm? Wait a moment, why did it feel like something was off with what she just thought of? Kagura shrugged as she walked by the side of the river near her living place.

. . .

Oh yeah, what time was it already? Kagura looked up above. Judging from the color of the sky that was already deep dark, probably around eight or nine o'clock now. It was around this hour that Hijikata came home if he didn't need to do overtime or if it wasn't his night shift. She should go home...

"Oi, what are you doing there?"

A familiar voice called to her from behind, so Kagura turned to look at the person. She immediately smiled when she saw the figure.

"Tosshi! What are you doing here?"

"Don't return a question to a question, anyway that's my dialog. Why are you here?"

"Nothing?"

"Ahh... Right, let's go home. I brought you a cake."

"Really?! Hyahhoooh! Tosshi, thank you eih!"

Kagura jumped on Hijikata's back wrapping her arms around his neck. Hijikata protested at first saying she wasn't a small kid anymore but Kagura only tightened her arms around his neck, choking him a little bit. Nothing serious of course, she was holding back her monstrous strength when it came to people she cared for and that much, he knew.

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

When the two of them came back home, Okita was sitting in the sofa staring blankly at the wall in front of him. No one dared to utter a word so the silence just continued, until Okita finally spoke.

"Ah. Hijikata-san, so china girl was with you. I was wondering where that brat escaped to, look at the door to my room, I can no longer sleep there knowing that someone might attack me while I was -"

"Wait a moment! What are you talking about you stupid brat? I don't know that!" Kagura panicked.

"Oh? But wasn't it you who crashed the door into my room earlier? Tsk tsk, when Hijikata-san went off to work, didn't you sneak into my room and did this and tha-"

"Oi oi, what is he talking about Kagura? You-"

"You bastard! Don't make it sound like I did something perverted with you eih! Freak!"

Kagura climbed off from Hijikata's back, she then jumped onto Okita knocking him down on the floor. But as she was about to punch him, Hijikata took both her arms from behind.

"Let go Tosshi! This stupid guy needs to learn his lesson!"

"Kagura, I think you're the one who needs to learn her lesson. No cake tonight."

"Whaaaat? No Tosshi, don't believe this freak eih! You bought that for me right? Who will eat it then! You don't like sweets!"

"Okita, you can have it."

"Looks like it, china girl."

...

Okita snickered, obviously teasing Kagura purposely. But Kagura only glared at him, and he swore he saw her with some red fire around her body, she was very mad. Right... That was for doodling on his face! He wasn't a paper or some cupboard, blackboard or whiteboard, whatever it was.

Well, partly, he did that to purposely anger the china girl... Anyways, he realized it was fun to tease her. And because of what she did to his face earlier, he found himself wanting to mess around with her.

As she was the first person to ever embarrass him, he knew she'd be hard to forget when they parted ways. So just to be equal, he'd make sure that he'd also be someone in her life who she'd never _ever_ forget.

* * *

Silly, silly Hijikata-kun. Let's see on next chapter what he was thinking. : )

Have a good day/night to all of you!


	4. Chapter 4: Okita Sougo

**A/N**: I'd like everyone to know that this chapter and the upcoming chapters won't be beta-read anymore... but I reread over and over... and did my best to edit it. There may still be errors, please do tell me if you found one.

Still, I Hope you enjoy! Thank you for reading and thank you **Yami no Saku-chan(Kagura fan111223)**, **Guest**-san, **dentedileone**, **Conny C**, **HeheSmile **and **Laura** for the reviews. :D

**Disclaimer**: I do NOT own Gin-tama anime/manga and its characters except for this storyline.

* * *

Chapter 4:

Okita Sougo

Okita stared in the sunny-side up egg that was on his plate. Beside him was Kagura and across the table was Hijikata. Perhaps, they looked like a family right now. Which wasn't really that bad... but they were not in any way related to each other. And he actually felt weird imagining Kagura as a family. No way, she could rather be his slave. That would be so much better, but of course that was also in no way possible.

Anyway, he would never want any other sister aside from the one he had. Okita Mitsuba. She was his inspiration, and he admired her a lot. Mitsuba, not only did her role as his elder sister but also stood as his mother and father since their parents died when he was still very young. She was a very nice and thoughtful person, and aside from her obsession of spicy stuffs, she was almost near perfect. She was beautiful and generous, he was really blessed to have her as his family.

But as unfortunate as it was, they found out that she had the disease that had no cure anymore. Her body weakened so much to the extent that she became bed-ridden, not allowed to stand or move anymore. He knew she hated it, but nothing that they could do. And he hated himself for not being able to do anything for her. After all she'd done for him, for the kindness, for the love, he couldn't do any single thing in return.

That was what he believed even though his sister would always comfort him saying he had done more than enough just by staying with her. That was not enough. Not enough for him. He felt like he took all of her time that she hadn't had the chance to be happy herself...

She didn't need to die, if he could just switch their positions, he'd gladly die for her. Of course, that was impossible. He was very disappointed when she died. He could only hold her hand as she spoke her last words to him; _take care of yourself Sou-chan... you should find your happiness. Take the sword with you okay... That is our parents' memento. Think of it as me... So please don't be sad... Sou-chan..._

That was why ever since then, he never let other person hold or touch that sword. It was the most important thing for him, his parents' memento... His sister's life... His heart... was on it. He despised those amantos who were after the sword. Because it wasn't an ordinary sword, one that could detect poisons from normal medicines, several criminal syndicates wanted it. When it touched or brought near a poisonous thing, it would turn into a blue green shade, when gun or firework powders, it would turn into a purple shade but normally, it was just silver. Those bastards wanted the sword for their dirty deeds. How dare they use it for that kind of thing? Stupid. How stupid. He'd never forgive them.

...

Okita gripped the chopsticks in his hand. Kagura seemed to notice that as she looked his way, giving him an unwanted attention. But she looked away immediately, in which he was kind of thankful. He didn't want anyone to ever see through his facade... Not that there had been any who actually saw through him... No one.

. . .

. . .

Hijikata took the last bite of egg before stealing a glance at Kagura and Okita. The three of them had been in an awkward atmosphere since earlier. Kagura who used to talk so much while eating was unbelievably quiet, Okita just kept gripping his chopsticks, not touching his food at all. And him... Well he kept looking at Kagura and Okita's way.

Could it be that Kagura took the incident the last day to her heart so much? He brought her cake yesterday as he had promised her and she ate it happily... So why was her mood back to being sour? Two days already passed. Hijikata was getting worried, he really shouldn't have done that. He felt kind of sick seeing a strange behavior from the girl. It was the first time...

Hijikata heaved a sigh.

"Kagura, it's my day of-"

"I'm going to go outside to buy sukonbu!"

"...listen when someone speaki-"

"Well then!"

"Oi, listen when someone spea-!"

Kagura hurriedly walked away from the table. Hijikata didn't have time to stop her, his brain wasn't functioning correctly. No no no, was Kagura ignoring him?!

"Thank you for the food, I'm going back to sleep."

Okita was next to leave the table, now Hijikata was the only one left sitting there frozen like a statue. He couldn't move for a while. Nevermind about Okita, he was worried about Kagura. But...

...

"...So in the end... I'm the one to do the dishes?"

. . .

. . .

. . .

After washing the dishes, Hijikata checked on Okita and seeing that he was asleep, he went outside to look for Kagura. She really was mad at him, huh? Well, it was understandable. He actually wanted to give that cake to her back then, just that... he didn't like the sound of what Okita said. Even though he knew that it was not actually like that and that the boy was only teasing his little companion, it still sounded weird and not good to his ears. He didn't like it for some reason.

Perhaps it was because he was used with only him and Kagura in the scene. Ever since Okita came, the girl was showing emotions he hadn't seen before. Not that those were happy emotions, to be honest he wouldn't want those reactions to be directed to him. However, he felt a little bit unsatisfied that someone else other than him could get Kagura to bring out such new expressions.

He had always thought of himself as an elder brother figure to Kagura, so it was a first to him to feel like this about her, involving another guy. Was he being protective? Over-protective, was that it...? Or was he just being selfish? The latter sounded more convincing, as shameful as it was...

Hijikata shook his head as he walked in a quick manner, not caring about his surrounding. It was his day off, he was going to ask Kagura if she wanted to go somewhere. He planned to treat her anyway... and maybe that boy too if he'd decide to go with them. Of course, in honesty, he wanted it to be him and Kagura only but that would be rude to a guest.

He sighed again. _Why did it become like this_...

He bit the cigarette that was occupying his mouth for stress-relief. He finally reached the store where Kagura always buy her favorite sukonbu. To his dismay though, she wasn't there anymore. Of course, she wouldn't be... Almost half an hour had already passed since she left the house. Well he could just look somewhere else.

...

On the road of Kabuki City, stray cats were everywhere. It reminded him the first time he and Kagura met. It was like how a man would pick up a stray cat. She was a lost girl, looking for a shelter and a company. And he happened to be the one to bump into her that time. He was thankful that he was the one to have found her. Back then, he thought it was quite a burden but slowly as he and the girl spent time together, she eventually grew on him. She grew on him so much that he didn't know how to live anymore were he to lose her.

_But that was all there was to it, right?_ Why was he questioning himself about this now anyway?

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

After a while of walking around, he finally found her. She was at the Yorozuya's place. He didn't expect her to go there, as they were really not close with the people residing on that place. It was actually the last place he thought of her going to... but she was there anyway. It didn't take him long to figure out that she did that on purpose, thinking that he wouldn't be able to find her.

"Kagura."

She just took a glance at him for a moment before looking away, pouting.

"I'm not going to say anything anymore ne! You won't believe anyway so I don't know anymore! I don't want to become adult anymore eih!"

"What? Kagura, that was... I know. It was my fault, my bad. Just come with me already?"

"No I don't want to eih. Go home alone."

Kagura didn't look his way anymore, as the owner of the shop; Gintoki, and his assistant; Shinpachi only stared at both of them. He didn't want to talk about this here. He was not the type to publicize his affairs or businesses, he was a private person. He really loved his privacy a lot.

And so, even if he had to use force, he would bring her out of there to talk with her. With this on mind, he didn't hesitate to grab Kagura by the hand. Gintoki laughed, and it sounded as if he was being mocked about something he didn't feel good about...

"Heh~ It's unexpected that the devil vice-commander liked little girls. A lolicon, I suppose? This would be a big news."

"Wha? Stop spouting nonsense!"

"Does your commander know about this? I'm sure he'll celebrate it for you."

"Bastard-"

"You keep denying it yet rather than letting go of the girl, you only tighten your hold on her even more. Didn't you know that action speaks louder than words, Hijikata-kun?"

"Gi-gin-san, at times likes this, we should keep quiet. Prying onto their business is a little-"

"Right yeah, think what you like..." Hijikata glared at Gintoki.

"So you're not going to deny it anymore, huh? That's some bravery you got there."

"P-please calm down Hijikata-san, Gin-san too! Please stop meddling onto other people's business, I already said earlier-"

"...You bastard, so what if I like little girls?! What's wrong with a lolicon ahh!?"

"So you're a lolicon after all, Hijikata-san?!" Shinpachi did his usual tsukkomi despite being ignored the whole conversation.

The atmosphere became even more awkward as Hijikata shouted something he never even thought of until now. Alright, it was the silver-haired samurai's fault, he was just confusing him making him believe that he was a lolicon so that his reputation would go down. Alright, Hijikata convinced himself to calm down. Gintoki was really an eyesore. Hijikata didn't hate the guy but he neither liked his guts.

"Tosshi, you're a lolicon eih? I didn't know."

"Don't say it like it's natural! We're going home now!"

Hijikata pulled Kagura, with him leading the way and her following him. He didn't notice his pulse rate that was beating unusually fast until Kagura pulled him to stop, walked to the front of him and placed her hand on his chest.

...

"Tosshi, are you nervous?"

"Haah? As if I am!"

_Sigh_.

"...Okay, look, I'm sorry about the cake. But I did buy you one yesterday as I said right? Why were you ignoring me?"

Kagura blankly stared at him, he couldn't read what she was thinking... But he could neither understand himself right now.

"Tosshi, you're a lolicon?"

"Oi, let go of that topic already...! I just said that because of that natural-permed samurai's persistence." Hijikata did his best to sound normal but his shaking voice was betraying him.

Luckily, Kagura didn't seem to mind either way... She only hummed before punching him on the stomach. Hijikata growled in pain.

"Buy me a sukonbu. Lots of sukonbu and I'll forgive you!"

"A-ahh, I got it... Damn." _I really can't win against you_.

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

The dark orange hint of light that was coming through the transparency of the white silky curtain on the room let Okita know that it was already late afternoon. Hijikata as well as that china girl hadn't come home yet. He remembered falling asleep after eating their breakfast, and he woke up probably around noon, just past twelve o'clock. When he went outside the room, there was no one. He waited for them but it felt like it had been forever already... or maybe that was because he had nothing else to do so he went back to his room to think about things. He realized that it was boring when the girl wasn't around.

Though at first, his impression of her was weird, loud and snobbish... that gradually changed as he spent more time in that house. Well, she was still stupid. But other than that, he realized that she could be thoughtful at times too and she may be loud but not annoying anymore. Sometimes she did get on his nerves, however that was it. Somehow, he couldn't find himself disliking her...

Okita sighed. Unfortunately though, the girl seemed to hate him. Not that, he was sensitive about it... He was used to being hated by many people. The only person to ever truly love and care for him was his sister. And to him, it was enough anyway. It felt strange to be liked by anyone else after all.

. . . . .

. . . . .

Okita was getting impatient. Until how long did he have to wait for those two? The sun was already setting, they couldn't be outside until night right? Weren't they trusting him too much? Why did they leave their house to a complete stranger such as himself? What a stupid thing to do...

But before Okita's impatience totally ran off, someone finally entered the house, with a _loud bang_, that is. Well well, what a way to enter their own house... But wait, why would they do that? Okita, suddenly feeling a bit off, hurried outside the room he was in. His poker face immediately changed into that of a dark one as he saw who were invading the house. There, in the living room weren't the two people he was expecting. Instead...

"Yo, so you're really here. My sub-ordinate did a good job finding this place. Now now, if I may invite you to come with me?"

A very familiar, disgusting cockroach-headed amanto spoke with his low quirky voice. Okita shot a menacing glare at him.

"What if I say I don't want to?"

"Well I'm afraid you don't have any other choice. If you want your two dear friends alive, that is." The amanto chuckled after his obvious threat.

Okita widened his eyes, just a little bit, really just a bit. What dear friends though? Was the jerk joking him? Was he talking about that Hijikata and that china girl? That was not funny even as a joke! They weren't his comrade, let alone dear friends... He was simply staying at the place as he found it a good hide-out. Although he was found out in the end...

"You're a moron, you know? Those two idiots aren't my friends. Nice try, cockroach bastard." Okita snorted, his face turning back to his usual poker face. "But... I'm not the type to betray people who entertained me to no end while I was bored."

"...Splendid! I see you can be clever at times too,

Okita Sougo."

* * *

Am I the only one who think Hijikata is so cute when he's nervous or embarrassed...?

And are you kidding me, amanto cockroach! Don't get so full of yourself. Okita _is_ clever always.

Kagura & Hijikata: ...

Okay, maybe not...

Okita: ...

Hm? Something's wrong with my head? No, of course not. My throat just hurts. I caught a cold... Everyone, take care of your health.

Have good day/night!


	5. Chapter 5: Getting back into trouble

**A/N**: Please tell me if you find errors! So I can improve with English writing, thank you. : )

I Hope you enjoy! Thank you for reading and thank you **Yami no Saku-chan(Kagura fan111223)**, **Guest**-san, **dentedileone**, **Conny C**, **HeheSmile**, **Laura** and **Dokiprez** for the reviews. :D

PS. I don't have a cold anymore but I still cough...ugh.

**Disclaimer**: I do NOT own Gin-tama anime/manga and its characters except for this storyline.

* * *

Chapter 5:

Getting back into trouble

Hijikata and Kagura went back home after Hijikata treated the girl to the sukonbu shop, snacks shop, candy shop, cake shop... Basically to shops where all kinds of sweets were sold at. Kagura was highly satisfied, this was the treat that Hijikata was talking about earlier. Maybe next time, she should pretend getting mad at him again... Yep, that sounded fun.

...

When they entered the house, they immediately noticed the awkward silence around, as if no one was there. Well, Okita should be home so there shouldn't be any worries... but as Hijikata took one new cigarette from the pack on his pocket, Kagura who went to Okita's room to check the boy immediately returned to his side with a worried look on her face.

"Tosshi, the stupid brat is gone."

"What? Are you sure?"

"Yep, the last pack of sukonbu that I left on the table earlier is gone!"

"That's your problem...?!"

...

Kagura shrugged, of course she knew something was wrong. She just wouldn't admit that it bothered her even a little bit. She recalled _that_ scene on her head. That scene wherein Okita was beaten up badly by those freaky amantos. He was probably at his vulnerable state back then and normally he could be really strong but still... He wasn't fully recovered yet. That much, she knew because she was the one to attend to his injuries during his stay there. A week had already passed and his wounds weren't doing good in healing.

So where would he go at that state? On top of that, he once told her that their house was a pretty reliable hiding basement. Their house was built in at the forest near an almost hidden river of Kabuki City. People who came near there were either searching for bears or birds to hunt or simply there to fish at the river.

Okay, wait... That was not the point. What Kagura trying to say was, that Okita guy considered their house as his temporary hide-out. He was hiding alright? Meaning he wouldn't dare go outside especially when alone.

"Tosshi, he must have been found out eih."

"What are you talking about?"

"He told me that he decided to stay here until he heals and that he should be hiding for the meantime after the sword was taken away."

"Huh?"

"We gotta find him ne! He took my sukonbu with him, that brat!" Kagura dashed outside, leaving Hijikata alone for the second time that day.

"Wait a minute...

So you just want your sukonbu back after all?!"

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

Okita had the blank expression on his face the whole time he and the amantos were on ride. They were at a large van full of packages containing dangerous powders. He eyed them carefully, without being noticed. There were poisoned powders, gunpowders, drug powders...

_These bastards_...

He clenched his fists, self-control slowly wavering. The bastards definitely had a problem using the sword just as he thought and now they wanted him for full information of it: pros and cons... then when they got what they needed from him, they would try to dispatch him. That was what they were thinking of doing, no doubt about it.

As if he would let them succeed though. This time, he would make sure to lead them to failure. They would regret putting their eyes onto his family's memento.

. . . . .

. . . . .

The basement was a huge mansion. _These amantos are rich bastards huh..._ So he supposed their under-business was a successful one.

_Today will be their downfall_.

His lips formed a smile, catching one of the cockroach bastards' attention.

"What are you smiling for, you creep?"

He didn't answer. He was too busy memorizing every single detail he saw there. He was finally at their heart: this mansion. He would crash this heart into pieces and no one among them would make it for tomorrow...

...

"Now Okita-kun, tell me how this sword properly works out. One of my followers had tried using it but it was a failure."

"Hm, he must be the failure."

"Are you messing around?"

"No."

"Tell me now!"

"Ah, all you have to do is... put eyeglasses. Oh and huge hat to cover your big heads. That will do."

. . .

By this time, the amanto leader was already convinced that he was being fooled around. And so he took out his gun that was hanging on the side of his belt, then he pointed it at Okita. He thought that the boy was going to be scared of him but instead he just laughed it off as if it was nothing dangerous to his life.

. . .

Okita could read the amanto's mind right now. He was so easy to understand with his actions and all... How idiotic. Well the cockroach was partly right. Okita was not being serious at all. Why would he? He just wanted to finish everything right away.

"Don't you forget that we have your friends' lives at our hands."

"Didn't I tell you earlier that they're not my friends? You seem to be forgetful. And moreover, I know you were lying. Don't put me together to the likings of you, moron."

"What?! Y-you... Hah! Are you kidding me? We do have those two! So don't you dare embarrass me anymore or they will swallow bullets!"

"Go ahead cockroach bastard, I don't care either ways but I'm telling you, you suck at lying."

Okita could see the amanto's hand that was holding the gun shaking. Now that was a good scene to look at. This shaking in anger, he'd turn it into shaking in fear later. For now, he'd mess around just because it was fun.

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

It was already dark outside. Kagura had been running around for a while now but still no sign of the brat. Her feet was giving up, not that her strength was lacking, just that she was not used to walking or running for too long. It was simply tiring and boring... and bothersome. If only that Okita guy wasn't a good source of laugh, she wouldn't have had to go through this.

Kagura stopped and rested for a moment. After that, she thought of going to somewhere else but before she could even step one forward, a screech of car echoed from behind her then a voice called out to her. She didn't have to turn around to know that it was Hijikata and his patrol car. What a good timing! She beamed a smile as she ran towards the car and opened the door to the seat beside the driver's seat. Hijikata nodded to her before telling her that he had an idea where Okita could be.

. . .

A few minutes later, they arrived at an old warehouse. A basement? Kagura looked at Hijikata.

"I saw some cockroach-looking amantos and some thugs meeting on this warehouse few days ago. I'm not really sure if this could be the main... but...

"Hoyaaah!"

"Uohh?! oi! Wait Kagura!"

Hijikata dropped the cigarette from his mouth when he yelled out to Kagura as he hurriedly followed her. She just barged in on the warehouse!

When he reached the door, he saw Kagura kicking two, three men out of her way.

...

"Oi, where is the stupid brat?" Kagura grabbed one man by his shirt then headbutted him when he didn't answer.

"Okita!"

"Wai, oi Kagura, calm down!"

Kagura was stopped by Hijikata on the shoulder. She then did as told. The two of them saw no amantos in the basement so they forced the humans who happened to be there to spit out where the freaky creatures could be. Kagura was sure Okita would be with those cockroaches. Threatening the humans led them to success as they managed to know the location of the main basement. Apparently, that old warehouse was just a branch. Hah, a branch for a basement. Weren't they luxurious? Kagura snorted.

Hijikata and her drove off to the place that they were taught of. Fortunately, it wasn't far. They arrived at their destination faster than they expected. It was located near the edge of the end for the boundary of Kabuki City. The branch basement was just few kilometers away.

Kagura jumped off of the car, this time, waiting for Hijikata to lead. He suggested that they split their ways so it would be quicker as the main basement was unexpectedly huge. As in, huge. It was a mansion! Was that really the basement? Kagura wanted to live in that kind of place, there would be lots of foods and rooms for her stocks of sukonbus and cakes and snacks. She was drooling at the thought.

Hijikata went off to the back while Kagura straightly headed for the front. Normally, she would want to sneak in at times like this but her situation was kind of different now as she either had no choice but to break the window glasses or barge in at the front door. Shaking her head, she held her purple umbrella firmly while nibbling on her beloved sukonbu...

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

Okita had a good laugh. The cockroach bastard was too easy to mess around with and he was easy to anger as well, the more it was fun to control his reactions.

"Alright so here's the deal. If you lose in this board game... I'll do you a favor and kill you for being stupid and if I win, I'll take back my sword and kill you for stealing it from me."

"Wait, something's off with that..."

"Oh?"

"...

I don't have the right to win?! 'Cause either way, it's my lost!"

"Exactly."

The cockroach amanto pulled on his antenna like how some humans would pull on their hair when irritated.

"Why are we even playing this then!"

"Because I wanted to play." Okita snickered, making the amanto way more annoyed.

This was where their action began. The board together with the table was suddenly sliced in two, and Okita did a backflip at the same time, completely relaxed. He showed no fear, in fact he easily managed to kick one amanto down beside him and took his sword. And once Okita held a sword, there was no stopping him anymore.

The tables, vases... curtains... all went into a mess. In no time, broken pieces of vases were visible in the ground, the sliced tiny pieces of curtains, the chairs and tables either cut into two or just fell down from the impact of Okita and the amanto leader slashing at each other. The cockroach bastard was quite good at swordsmanship.

But there were still sub-ordinates of the bastard who interfered their fight. Two of them jumped to attack him and he dodged them by spinning around, cutting the two in the process and taking another sword into his hand at the same time. Then came the next three who all had guns with them, they shot at him which he blocked using the swords. Okita grinned as if he was not on the brink of death. He used his two hands this time, quickly swung the two swords around, blocking most of the bullets from hitting him. It looked almost as if he was swinging more than two swords at one time, even the cockroach bastard's followers were awed. The amanto leader wasn't impressed though, he just glared at the boy and jumped to slash at him right after he survived the rain of bullets.

The blade of the amanto's sword would have touched Okita's shoulder if only he didn't see it first. With that, he stepped to his side, disappearing in an instant only to reappear behind the bastard.

"Not bad. But not enough."

Okita was sure of his victory by this moment... but it was a mistake that he didn't notice right away. The amanto leader served as a temporary decoy. When he turned his head to look at the frail presence he felt behind, too late, he already found himself falling backwards with the big impact of the shot he received in his left side. He almost thought he was floating in the air for a moment before his body touched the cold tile of the floor reminding him of his big mistake.

"Ugh -"

"Ha... Hahaha! Serves you right, you cocky brat. Got more to say huh?! Well too bad for you, I don't need your help with the sword anymore! You aren't being cooperative anyway, so bye-bye-yo forever."

Okita's eyebrows were knitting in pain, the blood quickly spreading through his shirt and onto the clear floor. No vital was seemed to have been hit but... Damn.

Damn it.

Just damn this bastard! Okita repeatedly cursed in his mind. He couldn't afford losing here now, not now when he was so close to crashing the one who stole his family's precious memento. Shit.

"Shoot him!"

"Yes, Sir!"

Shit! Okita forced himself to stand up, but he could only manage to do so halfway as bullets began raining upon him once again. He already felt few ones diving into his skin. Soon, he could no longer feel anything other than extreme pain, and blood was spurting from his mouth now. He was going to die if it continued, he really would. So why? Why did the bullets all of a sudden stop?

"Oi, I didn't think that you were actually a weakling."

...

Huh?

...That pale skin... That orange hair... That china dress... That voice...

Okita widened his eyes, he couldn't hide the shock.

_China girl_...

* * *

**Guest**-san - Thank you! ^u^

**HeheSmile** - Thank you so much! : )

**Dokiprez** - Thank you so much! Don't worry, it's not being disloyal. Otherwise I'd be disloyal too (T^T) when I'm 100% OkiKagu fan too... lol :D

**Dentedileone** - I don't totally ship HijiKagu too... It's impossible in the manga and OkiKagu is the best for me... but! I can't help myself to think that HijiKagu is cute.

**Conny C** - Tehehe xD Of course it's strange, because the kidnapping didn't happen at all. Yey! Thank you so much!

Thank you everyone who reads/comment/favorite this! I'm really happy!

Have a good day/night everyone.


	6. Chapter 6: She and her umbrella

**A/N**: I'd like to explain why I made Okita getting injured often here on this fic... It's because when I was writing this, I wanted to create a situation where Kagura will be the one to save him all those times, like how Okita often saved Kagura in the actual manga. xD One more thing, Okita is not a weakling in this fic. You'll see by the later chapters why he isn't as stable in fighting as he is in the original.

Anyway, I Hope you enjoy! Thank you for reading and thank you **Yami no Saku-chan(Kagura fan111223)**, **Guest**-san, **dentedileone**, **Conny C**, **HeheSmile**, **Laura**, **Dokiprez** and **Kokita** for the reviews. :D I put some replies on the end.

PS. I don't have a cold anymore but I still cough, and cough, and more cough...ugh.

**Disclaimer**: I do NOT own Gin-tama anime/manga and its characters except for this storyline.

* * *

Chapter 6:

She and her umbrella

Okita stared at the slender figure whose back was facing him. Kagura was using her umbrella to stop the bullets from hitting them. Then she did an unbelievable thing. She grabbed him, carried him on her shoulder before she jumped away from the enemies. Ow! His side, his side! How he wanted to complain about it so bad but that would make him look more like a weakling, which he was _not_! He wasn't just in his best condition.

When they reached a vacant room that looked safe and was away from the cockroach bastards, she put him on the ground and helped him sit against the wall. She crouched down beside him, checking on his wounds.

"Woah, I'm surprised you're still alive right now brat."

"What, you want me to die?"

"Either way. Where is my sukonbu?"

"What -"

Before Okita could ask what she was talking about, he coughed up blood startling even the girl beside him. He heard her sigh as she placed her hands on his shoulder, as if reassuring him. She then took a gauze from somewhere he didn't know, and started to treat his main wound, the one at his side. He was reminded how violent she could be, as she randomly wrapped it around his stomach. She perfectly covered it though, preventing more blood from coming out but he hissed in more pain.

"Tosshi will soon be here, he'll take you to hospital so just hang a bit more, tsk tsk, this is why stupid brats are -"

"...You're a... brat too..."

Okita did his best to answer back with his remaining strength. He could slowly feel his body giving in to the temptation of sleeping, but if he did so, he might not wake up again. He still didn't get his sword...

"I'll take the sword with me this time so shut up and watch me, Kagura-sama, beat those bastards up."

Kagura grinned before taking a step away from him, she was about to walk off when Okita reached out his hand, grabbing her hand. She quickly turned her head to him, obvious surprise shown on her face. He was surprised at himself too.

"The sword... The amanto wearing the black leather jacket is the leader. He knows the location of the sword."

"...I know he's the leader. I'm not blind oi, are you underestimating my eyesight ahh? Stupid brat -!"

"And... don't die."

Kagura seemed to not expect that from him as she remained quiet for a while. She answered him by crouching down beside him again, then tapped his head like he was a dog.

"Yoshi, yoshi, don't worry, your master will come back home safely with your food."

"I'm not a dog, you -!"

This time, Kagura ran off sticking her tongue out at him. With his eyes, he could only follow her figure slowly getting small and distant...

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

The way to the back had several amanto guards... cockroaches... awaiting him. It was nothing of a big deal though, he cut them all down without difficulties. He wasn't in the mood dealing with them. What occupied his mind was what he'd do with Kagura if she ever did something unnecessary... Hijikata doubled his pace towards the door, barging in when he sensed no one from inside. The door seemed to be connected to a small room, he scanned the surrounding, seeing next to nothing as it was dark. He let his feet brought him further in...

Fortunately no one was really present in that corner. He immediately searched for the orange head, his eyes looking around carefully. He was just in the first floor, Kagura could either be in the same floor or on the second one. When Hijikata sneaked in to the nearest room from the one he came from, he sighed and shook his head. The mansion was too big, he wouldn't be able to find her that easy, he should use his ears... Yes, that was right. Kagura could be talkative when fighting.

...

It didn't take long for the sounds of amantos growling and a girl's voice yelling to reach his ears. Right. Hijikata made his move and held his katana firmly but just when he walked passed by another room, he saw someone in the corner of his eyes. And he didn't regret stopping by as it was their objective in that place.

"Okita! Oi! What happened -?!"

The young man slowly opened his eyes, reflecting his own. Hijikata saw the newly wrapped bandages in his body.

"T-the... Chi...na, girl..."

"I know."

He got what the boy was talking about. He was pointing to where Kagura went off to. Judging by the situation, Kagura probably brought Okita in the first floor near where she thought Hijikata would most possibly enter from. She was sharp in her own ways...

Hijikata took Okita's right arm above his shoulder and supported him. He could still stand a little so it saved him extra effort but anytime soon, his body would be giving up for sure. He had to take this guy to the hospital as soon as he could... But what about Kagura...? They walked slowly, until they were in a huge space that looked like the living room. There was long stair connecting to the upper floor. Hijikata looked up above, hoping to see Kagura. He could feel Okita lifting his head as well.

It was then that they heard a loud bang then someone falling from the second floor. Not through the stairs, the person directly fell from up above! The impact was too much that dusts and cement smokes spread all around them, Hijikata coughed for a while before widening his eyes when he saw the china dress right in front of them.

"Ow, ah! Tosshi! Hurry up, take the brat to the hospital! Oi brat, don't you dare eat my sukonbu or I'll be the one to kill you!"

Kagura pointed her umbrella and shot at the cockroach amantos who were coming down one after another. They were shooting bullets at her too but she dodged them gracefully, stepping side by side as if memorizing dance steps. Kagura did a backflip, her hands and feet alternating on the ground then the last, while in the air, she shot at the enemies, bullets coming out from the tip of her umbrella. They were down in an instant as Kagura landed on the floor. If it were to be described: flawless.

Hijikata and Okita who saw this could only gawk in awe. Okita, despite his trembling in pain, forgot everything for a moment. The devil vice-commander have already seen Kagura fought similarly so it didn't surprise him how good she was at combat, however every time he saw it, he still found himself a bit dumbstruck. She was that good and graceful in fighting. It was as if she was made solely for it.

Well, Kagura told him before that her clan was indeed one that fought by blood, and that they were war-freaks. But that was what she didn't want to become... He recalled her opening up to him about it.

"That... China...girl... is something huh..."

Hijikata nodded at what the light brown-haired boy muttered.

"Tosshi! Hurry while I am in the mood to kick these bastards' balls!"

"Oiii! That's not something a girl should say!"

Kagura laughed as she and the amantos continued firing at each other. The girl was obviously winning though... And anyway, Hijikata felt relieved after seeing his little companion so he decided to take the boy to the nearest hospital already.

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

At the hospital, Okita made it just at the right time before his body totally gave up to the blood loss and pain. The doctor suggested to Hijikata that the boy should have to stay for a week there for them to examine him fully and for him to recover too. He agreed, knowing it was best to follow the doctor... even if it would probably cost him quite some money... the boy didn't have any health insurance card or anything with him after all...

Oh well, next thing he had to do was to go back to that mansion where Kagura was left alone to deal with those amantos. Of course, he already contacted his commander and perhaps, they were heading now to that basement.

. . .

Hijikata arrived at his destination and instantly saw Kagura outside, sitting at the terrace with her umbrella neatly placed beside her. She was holding something else and she was looking at it as she chew on her sukonbu. He walked closer to her, she smiled in return when she saw him. As though a thorn was took out of his chest, he patted her head.

"I was worried."

"Tsk, naive naive, you thought I'd lose to those freaks huh?"

"Not really... Anyway, where are they?"

"Inside. Uh-huh, no worries Tosshi. They're waiting patiently for your comrades to come."

"A-ah, I see."

Hijikata raised an eyebrow. He took a cigarette and lit it, puffing a smoke in the process. Sooner than expected, the patrol came and no amanto dealers were left in the mansion, they were all under arrested. His commander tapped his shoulder complimenting him on the good job. He wanted to say that it was thanks to Kagura but they were like in a hurry, leaving him and the girl all by themselves again. They were gone as fast as they appeared, like a wind.

"Tosshi, look at this."

"What? Ah, that sword..."

"Yep."

"Let's go to the hospital, you want to check on him too right..."

Kagura nodded as she held the cloth-covered long sword in her left hand alongside her umbrella. On her right hand, she was holding a bag... Hijikata eyed the suspicious thing... and when he asked her about it, she grinned as she gave him bag of gold. She said the amanto leader gave it to her...

_No no no no, impossible! You just took it, didn't you? You stole it, didn't you?!_

Sweat dropped from his forehead as he walked, this time, following the girl walking ahead of him.

* * *

dentedileone - Yep. It's always Okita saving Kagura... I thought, why not make it vice versa in my fic? xD

Kokita - I agree with you that -aru is better. But **eih** is not aye. **-aru** is supposed to be Kagura's accent on the manga, and the original manga is in Japanese. This fic is in English, I can't use -aru, especially when it isn't really a word or formality like using -san after names.(Example: Hijikata**-san**) so it would feel weird. Do you read the English-translated version of the manga in some sites? They translate -aru as "**yes?**". But I didn't want to use it here, "yes?" just won't click on me as the proper translation of her accent. I hope I explained that well. : )

HeheSmile - Lol! xD I put in the author's note about this matter.

Thank you everyone. ^O^

Have a good day/night!


	7. Chapter 7: Recovery

**A/N**: We passed the half of the fic! And I'm sorry for any errors, please do point out if you see one, be it grammar or spelling mistake. :D

Anyway, I Hope you enjoy! This was fun to edit... xD Thank you for reading and thank you **Yami no Saku-chan(Kagura fan111223)**, **Guest**-san, **dentedileone**, **Conny C**, **HeheSmile**, **Laura**, **Dokiprez** and**Kokita** for the reviews. :D I put replies on the end.

**Disclaimer**: I do NOT own Gin-tama anime/manga and its characters except for this storyline.

* * *

Chapter 7:

Recovery

Three days had passed. Okita still showed no sign of waking up.

Kagura was sitting at a visitor's chair beside the bed where the boy was lying down. It was the same as the day when she doodled on his face, he was there lying down peacefully... not moving... as if he was already dead. Color went gone from Kagura's face. She didn't want to see someone close or someone she could consider a friend or a rival or whichever dying on her. It reminded her of her deceased mother... She didn't want to feel that kind of pain again.

"Oi... Wake up already. I took back the sword from the freaks as promised stupid brat."

...

"Oi, what kind of a dog not waiting for his master faithfully?"

...

"Oi..."

"Kagura."

Kagura jolted at the voice that called to her from behind. She slowly turned her head to the side, taking a glance at the tall man who was nearing her. He knew what she was thinking, no doubt... But she was too ashamed to admit that she was still afraid of such thing when it happened years ago and shouldn't be brought back to surface anymore.

Still... Why couldn't she help it but feel as if she was going to lose someone important again...? It wasn't like Okita was really special to her, he was neither an important friend nor a close relative too... Kagura took hold of Hijikata's shirt. He probably sensed her anxiety as he half-embraced her in return.

. . .

. . .

Another day was about to end and Okita still didn't wake up. Kagura had been waiting the whole day for an improvement, unfortunately none. She just fell asleep on the chair, her upper half body bent down borrowing a small space of his bed.

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

The pain that was electrifying his body was incomparable. Never had he felt something as painful as when he took those bullets that were rained down upon him. Well he supposed it was only natural. That was the first time that he got shot after all, until before then, he only knew the pain of getting wounds from swords-wooden or not-, punches or kicks.

Okita found himself standing alone in a dark place. He was alone again in this empty space...

But...

A strange sensation pulled him back to his self from the dark hole of his nightmares. He felt something in contact with his elbow... He regained his consciousness back, but his eyes remained close since his eyelids felt heavy. Alright, just what in the world was this... something... He moved his left arm slowly, trying to seek the warmth his elbow was touching. Now he was curious, so he forced his eyes open.

The first thing to welcome him was the blinding white light and white ceiling... and beside him...

"...?!"

Okita almost fell off of the bed. The china girl was sleeping beside him! Okay, specifically... Just her upper body. She was sitting on a chair, and what his elbow kept touching til now was this girl's arm that was crossed above her head as she slept. But honestly? How ridiculous, he thought his heart leaped out of his chest. Huh? Of course he'd be shocked!

...

Why on Earth was she sleeping in there anyway?!

...

Okita recomposed himself, his noisy heart relaxing back. He looked at the china girl sleeping. Had she been by his side all this time? To think that she'd allow herself to be vulnerable like that. Didn't she think that he might do something to her face in revenge of what she did to him before? Well not that he really would. He was not in the age for that anymore, and there was no pen either... Right. Of course he didn't just think of doing it even one bit. She was immature and he was mature.

He took a glance at the china girl once more. Her skin was really pale, and her eyelashes were quite long too, she looked like a breathing doll. Pretty creepy huh? But somehow, to him, she looked... fairly... cute.

Cute.

Hm?

_Alright_, when asleep. She looked cute when _asleep_.

Okita realized that he had bent his face closer to the china girl's. He was gazing at her at such a close distance and his pulse rate quickened again as he distanced his face from hers in an instant. Had he hit his head somewhere? How long had he been sleeping? His brain was malfunctioning, it was probably stuck for some time now.

He moved his eyes to his own body. He was wearing a white loose shirt and gauze bandage wrapped around his stomach, shoulder until neck then arms. How many bullets did hit him? He placed his hands on his head, the memories from that incident came flashing back on his head.

Kagura came and saved his ass from those cockroach bastards. Hijikata then helped him out from there and while on the process, he witnessed how Kagura fought the amantos. He recalled being in awe as he watched them, she was fighting them with easiness and gracefulness. Okita was impressed and amazed, much to his dismay. No one had ever made him feel inferior until he met the brat.

While he was contemplating on what happened before he blacked out, the china girl beside him already woke up. She opened her eyes and turned to look at him like he was some ghost.

"..."

"..."

She brought her face close to his and he raised one eyebrow, unsure of what she was doing. Then all of a sudden, she headbutted him.

"Ow! What the heck are you doing?"

"Y-y-y-y-you!? You were alive eih!"

"What do you want to say?!"

Kagura pulled Okita's hair and cheeks as if to check if he was real. He snapped, grabbing both her hands and pulled her to him, his forehead touching hers. By this time, her eyes were as big as the full moon.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?"

Kagura glared at him and he let her pull her hand off from his grasp, which he regretted the moment she punched his stomach mercilessly. It wasn't strong but it was enough to make his stomach twist in pain, especially when he wasn't healed that much yet. Damn brat! Okita coughed as he hugged his own stomach, his upper body now bent forward.

"H-hah! That's for the sexual harassment, you damn person!"

He didn't have time to glare back at Kagura who was now doing her victorious pose. At the corner of his eyes, from the transparent window by the side of the door, he thought he saw Hijikata looking at them with a face that was hard to understand.

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

When he noticed Okita looking his way, Hijikata immediately hid himself before he walked away. He was there with the intention of visiting him as well as to check out on Kagura, but when he finally reached the room, the scene that welcomed him was quite unpleasant. He saw the boy pulling Kagura close to him, their forehead touching. Kagura looked surprise and Okita was obviously enjoying her reaction.

Hijikata wasn't sure if he was ready to interpret the disturbing feeling he'd been getting recently, just when it involved Kagura and that boy. He couldn't tolerate this feeling. He would _not_ tolerate it. It was bad enough that he was feeling like that about a little girl, let alone someone who he'd been treating like a younger sister all this time! That would be... plain weird.

...What? Was he already feeling of that about her, just that he needed someone else in the picture for him to realize? That was even more weird! The worst, unforgivable. Maybe this time too, he just had to let go... He was able to do that before, why not the second time? He'd just give the two youngsters the chance to get close and Hijikata would bless them his consent if ever... if ever -

_Sigh_.

Why was it not easy? Oh yeah, wait... it might just be a misunderstanding too. He was just too used to the life with only Kagura and him, that was why he was feeling uncomfortable with the new company of Okita. Right? Hijikata took the cigarette off of his mouth as he strode the dim path of the street outside the hospital. When he realized it, he was already walking alone in a dark street just few meters away from where he came. It was around midnight, no one else was outside anymore.

Perfect timing for cooling his head off from all these frustrating matters. Hijikata walked a few more. Then few more steps. He then stopped as he looked in front of him straightly. Wait, should he really be out there knowing that Kagura was with the very guy who might take her away from him any moment?

...

No. No, something was off with that. Wasn't he just convincing himself a while ago about how it could be a misunderstanding in his part?! And she wasn't his to begin with! That was right. What was he thinking? He must have been lacking of his mayonnaise lately... his mayonnaise wasn't enough, yes that's it! No wonder he was starting to go nuts. He needed his mayonnaise. But where was his mayonnaise when he needed it most? Oh the store, yes, right. There was a store he passed by earlier that evening, surely they had it...

. . .

"What do you mean you don't have mayonnaise?!"

"U-uh, we're sorry Sir, but -"

"Normally, you would have mayonnaise right? That's the basic, didn't you know that? Where is your manager oi?! Tell him that this place lack the most important product!"

...

Hijikata couldn't believe it. How could they not have mayonnaise, that was the basic out of all basics! A store that did not store mayonnaise couldn't be called a store at all! He wanted to cool his head but what happened was the opposite. How could he possibly be relaxed, he was even more frustrated now. No other convenience store was nearby. And he wanted to go back already to where Kagura was.

She'd been sleeping in the hospital the past three days waiting for that Okita to wake up... Now that he was awake, maybe she could come with him back to the house even just once. He wouldn't admit it to her but he missed it. The house without her was like a food without his mayonnaise.

Kagura really grew on him that much already. Although before, being with her was just a natural thing for him. Now, he was seeing her in a whole new different level. Why...?

Why now, when it was already too late to admit it even to himself?

* * *

Ahem... did anyone forget that this is also a romance fic...?** ^-^ **'Cause I actually almost forgot myself. xD I feel like the first few chapters were all action and randomness while I was editing so... (lol) don't worry, it doesn't get corny. Yep... it does, not - *runs off to reread the next chapters to edit*

**Conny C** - She is, right? I love Kagura! : ) Thank you!

**Dokiprez** - Kagome? :o I'm sorry I didn't get the kagome part... but I'm happy my response made you happy! : ) Thank you! Yeah, I've always wanted to see Kagura saving Okita... Sorachi-sensei just won't give us that, would he? (T^T) ...

**Dente di leone** - Yey! Thank you :D She's cute indeed, I wish there are more OkiKagu moments in the manga, I miss it. : (

**HeheSmile** - Ohh, no no! I didn't take it as negative comment at all. I've been meaning to mention it in the earlier chapters, just always forgot to. ^O^ Thank you!

Have a good day/night everyone and thank you!


	8. Chapter 8: The woman of his past

**A/N**: I had to rewrite this chapter ;w; why...? Because I actually made a mistake! And I didn't realize it until I read it again, I wrote this fic months ago and back then, I didn't notice that I made a really, huge mistake. Eeek. I hope I pulled it off well, at least... at the very least. Because if not... *bangs head on desk*(I didn't really do this so don't worry, my brain is still functioning properly) T.T

Anyway, I Hope it's okay! Thank you for reading and thank you **Yami no Saku-chan(Kagura fan111223)**, **Guest**-san, **dentedileone**, **Conny C**,**HeheSmile**, **Laura**, **Dokiprez** and **Kokita** for the reviews. :D I put replies on the end.

**Disclaimer**: I do NOT own Gin-tama anime/manga and its characters except for this storyline.

* * *

Chapter 8:

The woman of his past

Tonight, Kagura was going to sleep at their house. Hijikata told her that it had been a long time, too long that Santa might take her sleeping place away. Of course, she knew it wouldn't go somewhere, it was not December and Santa wouldn't do such horrible thing but she went along with Hijikata's play. He was just embarrassed to say that he missed her! How could she possibly miss that funny look on his face? That was just priceless. Kagura chuckled, she was in a good mood.

"Oi china girl, what are you smiling there for? Did something bad happen?"

"What did you say?!"

She was in a good mood. She _was_. So was it necessary for this stupid Okita to ruin that?! Kagura groaned in annoyance. Two days from now, Okita would be going back to their house. She gave Hijikata that bag of gold that she took from the cockroach amanto but he didn't accept it. Well, that much she expected. Still, it would have been of a help, now he had to shoulder all the finances that this stupid guy caused. The bag of gold went to the Shinsengumi's hands, Kagura hit her head on the table. She loved calling the Shinsengumi guys tax thieves, of course it was only when Hijikata was in a day off so he wouldn't be counted.

The sword that was neatly covered with cloth was kept in her room. She already told Okita that she'd hand it to him once he recovered and when he got out of hospital. He didn't seem to complain anything about it so she guessed he was just relieved that she got his sword back. Although, he looked awfully bothered by the fact that he was saved by her not only once but twice, and that she was the one who got the precious memento back.

Kagura, irritated, turned to leave. She was feeling hungry anyway.

"Where are you going?"

"That's none of your business." She looked at Okita for a second, before completely turning away, ignoring the pained look on his face she thought she saw.

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

By the time Kagura was about to leave the hospital, she saw Hijikata coming. She immediately ran to him, anticipating some food since he was holding a plastic bag. And she was right, in the plastic bag, there were some burgers, dangos, orange juice and her favorite sukonbu.

She thanked Hijikata, hugging his arm tightly. Together, they both went to Okita's room, with Kagura's mood totally better than earlier and Hijikata with his poker face.

When they reached Okita's room, Hijikata handed the boy a small plastic containing a yakisoba bread. Kagura was already happily eating her burger until -

"Kagura said you liked yakisoba bread-"

"Tosshi! I said something like that?!"

"Huh? Didn't you-"

"No, I did _not_!"

Kagura punched Hijikata by the arm. She then took a glance at the light-haired boy, who was now grinning like an idiot.

"Heh~"

A vein popped up in Kagura's forehead, oh how she wanted to strangle this stupid brat so bad! Could she do it? Could she?! It wouldn't be a crime if she said he was sexually harassing her and that she just defended herself right? Oh much better, could she just kill him off?

Kagura gritted her teeth and glared at Okita. She just happened to mention to Hijikata about the yakisoba bread, because she remembered Okita telling her that he liked it. And she thought he was probably sick of hospital's food so she was just being nice and all, he should be grateful to her, the Kagura-sama!

Annoyed once again, she stood up then punched Okita straight on the face. He fell right on the bed; good for him the bed was there to catch him. Kagura laughed obviously in purpose, as Okita rubbed his nose in pain. Hijikata only sighed as he took hold of Kagura's small wrist. She then sat back on her chair and started chomping on her fifth burger.

"Okita, I've been thinking of it for a while now. Don't you have somewhere to go back to?"

"...No."

"You don't have relatives anymore? Where have you been living until you met us then?"

"I live anywhere, no specific place. I don't know about any of my relatives, I only had an elder sister. My parents were already dead since I was a little kid."

"I see..."

Kagura only listened to their boring conversation. Boring... It was boring... until Hijikata brought up a certain name that seemed to affect the atmosphere around them. He was not telling her something, and it bothered her a bit.

"Are you... by any chance, Mitsuba's younger brother?"

"...You know my sister? And you're calling her by her name... Ah, were you-"

"No. I mean yes... But no, it's complicated-"

"I haven't said anything yet."

She saw Hijikata widened his eyes for a little bit. It was rare for him to drop his coolness like that, who was this Mitsuba? And what did he mean by saying it was complicated...? She didn't quite understand where the conversation was heading. Okita looked mad about something too.

"Just so you know... My sister is already dead too."

"...I know..."

"...she had been in love with a certain man, but they didn't work out together..."

Kagura raised an eyebrow at this. Slowly, the puzzle was being formed.

"Hijikata-san... Could that man be, you?"

"..."

She was startled when Okita suddenly stood up from his comfortable bed, only to grab Hijikata's collar. He really was mad and the tall man was not saying anything. Kagura was too shocked by everything that she couldn't say anything too, she was just there, sitting silently on the chair watching the two men who was now glaring at each other. Then finally, after a moment of silence, Hijikata spoke.

"Mitsuba died... What could I.."

"My sister told me that the man she was in love with was ready to leave her... She had a painfully warm smile when she said that, even though she loved the man so much! Do you have no idea how much that hurt her? I know it did. If you decided that kind of thing, you shouldn't have told my sister! If only... If only I knew it was you, then I'd have killed you in your sleep-"

"Oi."

Kagura had yet to understand fully what was happening but she wouldn't accept what he just said. So she interrupted them, grabbing Okita on his arm.

"Can you be even more ungrateful than you already are? Don't forget that Tosshi was the one who brought you here and is the one to pay for all your hospital fees, ahh?"

"Kagura... Don't. Let him."

. . .

Okita let go of Hijikata's collar then he brushed Kagura's hands off from him.

"Leave me alone."

She didn't miss the shaking of his hands. His back was facing them when they left the room, Kagura was slightly worried about things from now on. If the two were like that, then it would be awkward for them to be in the same house. What should she do?

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

Back in their house, Kagura missed her futon so she laid down on it immediately, hugging her pillows and loving its comfort. The hospital sucked, she didn't have any bed to sleep on and their food was not really that much delicious. At least to her, it was not. Oh well...

The whole time she and Hijikata were on their way home, he was painfully quiet. They drove off on his patrol car. The past few days that Kagura stayed in the hospital with Okita, he was doing overtimes in Shinsengumi. She knew. Of course she knew. Why wouldn't he be doing that? she was quite sure he thought it was boring without her. Hah! Of course it'd be boring without her. That was why he missed her!

But that wasn't what she was supposed to be thinking as of now. She was curious about this Mitsuba, the woman of Hijikata in the past. Who knew he'd had someone like that? It was unexpected, Kagura felt a little weird about it.

Kagura went to the living room where Hijikata was sitting on the sofa.

"Tosshi, who's Mitsuba?"

Hijikata spit out the coffee he had been drinking the moment she asked him about the woman. If she wasn't asking about a serious matter, she would have laughed her ass off of that but she could read air at times too.

"...Why are you asking...? That's a close book."

"Okita was mad at you eih."

"That's...

Okay, look... It's all in the past. But maybe I should tell you a little bit about it. What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

"Oi, I said a little bit! Didn't you hear me?!"

"...Fine. Who's Mitsuba?"

...

Then Hijikata answered every question she offered him. So this Mitsuba was the only woman he ever fell in love with. He was 17 back then and the woman was of the same age but despite knewing she had younger brother, he never met the kid since they didn't meet frequently and Mitsuba told her that the kid was training at a swordsmanship school. Hijikata didn't think it would be the Okita guy they took in even though he noticed the resemblance. Also... even though Hijikata and Mitsuba were already harboring the same feelings for each other, he knew she was sick and before knowing that, Hijikata had already told her that he intended to join a police force back then. So in short, even if she would have lived, he probably left her because he was aware that becoming a cop meant he should be ready to throw his life anytime anywhere. Before their love even bloom, fate decided to cut their ties.

. . .

"In the end, I said about everything, didn't I? But well you know, Mitsuba was... a gentle person, I know I'm the worst for thinking I'd even leave her."

Kagura punched him on the stomach. She didn't think it was his fault... Why should he be feeling bad about it? She had a disease, she died and he couldn't have had anything to do about it. That Okita guy was just narrow-minded. She was sure that Mitsuba woman also didn't think that he made her suffer. Okay, maybe he had hurt her indeed but he didn't just leave her right? He was still there for her until her death. Damn that brat...

"What's with the punch? Why did you punch me?!" Hijikata was holding onto his stomach.

Kagura sighed and sat beside him. "You still love her eih? Sorry... Just don't say ever again that you're the worst Tosshi."

Although Kagura didn't know how to comfort someone, she felt that she could be at least a good fellow for him now. She took a glance at him, he was looking far off the distance. It was the first time he ever looked like that, she frowned.

Not wanting to see that side of his anymore, she did something out of character. Kagura pulled Hijikata's head and made him lay his head down on her lap. He had his eyes as huge as plates at this, and she grinned at him in an attempt of making him feel better. She felt nice when he returned the smile, really just in a blink of an eye, before closing his eyes. Kagura placed her hand on his forehead.

. . .

. . .

Hijikata was really surprised. He was shocked. He didn't expect her to do something like that at all, and he hated himself for letting his pulse rate quicken at that. And they were even talking about the woman he loved in his past... Right, he really was the worst.

He had been getting often nervous lately when he was with Kagura. His heart beat would just get rapid as annoying as it was, was there any way that he could continue denying what he was feeling? He sure as hell wanted to know how. And it was true that he still felt bad, awful, horrible. How Mitsuba just passed away, how he had decided in his heart that he'd have to leave her. In truth, he was the one to turn his back on her. She was sick, he was not. But he was the one who thought of leaving the significant other...

However, that was all there was to it. Mitsuba was a part of his past now. But he couldn't say _no_ to what Kagura asked...

_...You still love her eih..._?

He wanted to say no to that. But he could only close his eyes, his voice wouldn't come out. He couldn't say no, as Kagura looked really convinced that he still felt that way about Mitsuba, and it seemed nothing to her... It seemed as though it didn't matter to Kagura whether he denied it or not.

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

Okita was all alone in the room. He was thinking about what he did earlier that day. He didn't intend to do that, just that his blood went up to his head knowing the man who hurt her sister was there right in front of him, living and breathing while his sister was nowhere anymore. But he knew... He knew that Hijikata wasn't bad. He knew that it wasn't Hijikata's fault. He knew that his sister didn't think of Hijikata as the one to pain her. He knew... that it was only him who selfishly blamed the man for what he thought as his sister's unhappiness.

To be honest, he was blaming himself. He thought it was him who took all of his sister's time that she had no space for herself anymore. He was the reason that she didn't find her own happiness. That was the truth that was making him feel terrible even now.

Mitsuba was too nice of a woman. She might be comforting him, telling him it wasn't his fault but it was. To him, _it_ _was_. So seeing that man living freely just made his calm nerves run cold.

Okita looked down on the white blanket that was covering his legs. He hated this color. It was too pure for him, too clean for him who had dirtied his hands with blood. It didn't fit him... But lately, whenever he saw white, it reminded him of the china girl. Probably because both resembled the paleness in color, and his nerves would calm back, now she was the sole reason he came to tolerate this pure color.

* * *

Okay... I swear I'm going to write a HijiMitsu/OkiKagu fic next time. =;..;= Just because I love HijiMitsu too and I feel bad with this fic xD But nevertheless I enjoyed HijiKagu...

Dente-di-leone - I just noticed... your username seemed to have a small change every time I update xD And thank you! I always enjoy writing OkiKagu... and yeah! Hijikata is silly. xD

HeheSmile - Yes so don't worry :D And that's right, but it's not overboard I think. Thank you!

Dokiprez - That's okay : ) Aww thank you so much! You have another chapter to read now cause I updated 2 chapters at once this time.

Have a good day/night everyone and thank you!


	9. Chapter 9: Can't sleep tonight

**A/N**: Here is another chapter! Spoiler: For OkiKagu fans, next chapter will be a fun read for sure!(well to me, it certainly is...) xD

Anyway, I Hope you enjoy! Thank you for reading and thank you **Yami no Saku-chan(Kagura fan111223)**, **Guest**-san, **dente-di-leone**, **Conny C**,**HeheSmile**, **Laura**, **Dokiprez** and **Kokita** for the reviews. :D

**Disclaimer**: I do NOT own Gin-tama anime/manga and its characters except for this storyline.

* * *

Chapter 9:

Can't sleep tonight

It had been a week, Okita seriously thought he'd die out of boredom in that hospital. His body miraculously recovered but his brain was left unfixed. What should he do? If the doctors there did their best to bring him to complete recovery, they should have fixed his damaged brain too. What should he do? There was one reason why he was feeling this crap, and he didn't like that reason even a bit. What should he do?

The question kept repeating in his mind like a cursing mantra. He folded his arms across his chest as he looked at the girl involved on his frustration. The china girl was eating popcorns while watching the _tv_. She was too focused on what she was watching that she wasn't realizing that he'd been looking at her way for almost an hour now.

He just couldn't take his eyes off of her, he wanted to know why she suddenly looked like a bright creature in his eyes. She didn't let an aura as pleasant as that before, so why now? It was frustrating. Frustrating. _Frustrating_.

Okita sighed as he walked to the sofa where Kagura was sitting in. His eyes hurt already. He then sat beside her, hoping she'd pay attention to him this time. His expectation betrayed him though as she didn't even realize he was sitting there at her side! Her eyes were glued to the damn screen.

"China girl." He tried calling out to her. No answer.

"Oi. You listening?" The second time. Yet again, no answer.

"Fine, maybe I should just take that weird-tasting sukon- bubera!"

Okita fell down on the floor. The china girl did an uppercut on him. Now, not only his eyes but also his chin hurt. This girl...!

"Don't you dare steal my sukonbu!"

"You weren't listening to me so how come you heard about that?!"

"Huh? Why do I have to listen to you eih? I'm busy watching Pinko's drama and you're disturbing my peaceful time!"

"..."

An arrow pierced through his chest. Ow. Hey sadists could be sensitive. Oh wait, he wasn't a sadist.

Eh? No, no no. That was wrong. He was a _sadist_.

But no, he wasn't really a sadist... when it came to this girl?

Oh damn. He was talking to himself now. Damn, it was this stupid girl's fault.

Okita stood up, took the pack of popcorn from Kagura's hands and he ate them all fast, all the while Kagura was staring at him aghast. His lips curved upwards as he snorted purposely provoking a fight. She had her jaw dropped for few seconds before her eyes turned all white, her teeth gritting on anger. He chuckled. This was what he needed... Her attention. Their everyday argument may have had become an obsession for him.

He blocked her kick then her punches and in no time, they were jabbing at each other as if their hands were weapons themselves. Okita had his usual poker face while Kagura still had her eyes all white in anger. He secretly enjoyed it when the china girl had her whole attention on him.

"Damn you! My popcorn! How dare you! I'm going to kill you!"

Kagura yelled, her high-pitched voice vibrating in his ear. _Ow_. She pushed him down on the ground with brute force, and she sat down on his stomach before grabbing him on his neck, shaking him violently. His eyes felt like circling around.

He thought he was already out of breath, however recalling that the china girl was sitting on him... Somehow it made him feel very uncomfortable... And, he couldn't just help himself but to say words that he knew she would get even angrier at.

"Oi get off of me, you're heavy."

"What?! How dare you say that to a lady! Are you an idiot? Are you ahh?!"

Okita did his best to push her off of him but she was strong and she wouldn't let him do so. He began to sweat a bit, too uncomfortable of their current position. If she was being like this...

"You won't get off of me huh... Does it feel that good riding me?"

"W-wh... whaaaat-?!"

This was the first time. This really was the first time. Okita stared, mesmerized at the china girl who now had her cheeks slightly red, he could tell that her hands that grabbed his shirt was suddenly shaking. She then jumped away from him the instant they felt another presence aside from theirs.

"T-tosshi! Listen Tosshi! This stupid brat is saying some sexual harassment on me again!"

Okita hadn't changed expressions but deep inside, he frowned. It wasn't about how Kagura kept saying that he was sexually harassing her, it was because of how she clang on Hijikata's arms while complaining about him. It kinda felt a little off...

At that time, he had yet to understand what he was being irritated of.

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

Hijikata knew it. He knew it. That was why he was being agitated this much. That Okita guy felt _something..._ for Kagura. At first, he was convincing himself that it was just a mere affection like how someone was having a little crush. He told himself many times that there was no way Okita would actually develop feelings for her more than that of a simple infatuation.

But he was wrong. Okita was completely obsessed about his Kagura!

...

...

Hm...?

...No, wait a moment.

...His Kagura...? Why did that sound wrong...?

...

... ... ...

Oh of course that sounded wrong. That was really wrong. Because if not... Then why the heck was he being possessive over the same girl?!

. . .

. . .

Hijikata excused himself and Kagura from Okita, with the reason of cooling the girl's head off. It was partly true, but one more reason was that he just wanted to take her somewhere... somewhere without that guy's eyes following them.

He took her to the Dango shop they frequently went to when it was his day off. By the way, it was his day off today alright...? He wasn't slacking off or anything like that okay? Hijikata coughed as he looked at his cellphone and reread his commander's mail that was sent to him early that morning.

'_Toshi! How are you feeling now? Okay, I know you need your rest so I'm giving you a day off today okay! It's good that you have that china girl around to take care of you! But well Toshi, just let me know if you ever become too suffocated okay?!_'

"..."

He was indeed sick and he felt a bit doze off, he knew he lacked some sleep... But he felt worse all the more after seeing Kagura sitting on the young man, as if they were totally love-love with each other. He wished he didn't see it.

Wait a minute. Now that he reread his commander's mail, he noticed something that sounded bad. Why the suffocate...? Hijikata raised an eyebrow as he decided to reply to Kondou's email once again.

'_Kondou-san... I forgot to ask you earlier, what do you mean by me ever becoming suffocated..._?'

It didn't take long receiving a reply from his commander.

'_Oh you, don't say it like you don't know it! Anyway, I'll take you to Smile snack club if ever you can't control... you-know-what anymore, okay? Otae-san contacted me yesterday saying she would be needing me anytime soon... So I figured out I'd just surprise her!_'

"..."

_But I don't really know what you're talking about...?! And Kondou-san... That... You just wanted to visit that woman, don't you...? You're just using me as an excuse so you could also take a day off just to stalk that woman again, don't you?!_

Hijikata took a cigarette as he yelled to himself. They sat at one of the long benches outside the shop. Kagura was munching on who knew how many dangos already... He looked at her just from the corner of his eyes. Normally, someone wouldn't think that this girl beside him was a Yato member who had monstrous strength and agility. She looked perfectly natural just like a human.

"Kagura. What do you think about Okita?"

"Stupid. He's a stupid brat. Even now, we don't know his name yet eih! He's one hella rude fellow too."

"I see..."

Kagura spat out, clutching her fists as she punched in the air. Hijikata could tell that she was still mad at the boy. He didn't know whether to be relieved that she didn't look like she was falling for Okita or whether to be disappointed seeing that she didn't seem to be aware of the opposite gender. If Okita was no good... then the more he was not.

The young boy looked like he was only four to five years older than Kagura while his age difference from her was pretty far... 11 years apart was kind of hard to accept even from other people's perspective, no doubt about that. But when he realized that he had such feelings towards the girl, he could no longer stop it...

However, Hijikata was probably already satisfied of their current relationship too. If telling her how he felt would do a damage to their bond... then he'd rather keep it to himself in order to be able to stay by the girl's side. He may not be capable to stop it but he had the confidence that he could just keep it.

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

She couldn't sleep. Her eyeballs felt as if they wanted to jump out of her sockets. Yesterday, Okita went overboard with his sexual harassment on her. How could he say something so creepy? There was no way she felt good sitting on him like that! Heck, she didn't even realize it herself until he mentioned it. But why oh why did it make her embarrassed like she was some shoujo heroine on some shoujo manga she happened to read before? She knew her face went red after hearing that from him!

Gah! How annoying. Then there was Hijikata who was acting weird as of lately. Everyone around her seemed to be acting suspicious. Was she the only one who hadn't had a clue why they were being like that? Was it a disease? An epidemic?!

Okita would always say or do something that provoked quarrel between them. _Everyday_. He had been like that more often now than before... And Hijikata would sometimes be moody out of the blue, that or he'd turn red to what she did or said at times. It was impossible to miss that one! He had never once reacted in such a way to her. It was funny and strange at the same time...

...

Ahh, she couldn't really sleep. Her eyes remained open, it just wouldn't close damn it. She wanted to sleep already, waking up until late at night is the worst enemy of beauty!

Kagura rolled over in her futon few times, to the left then to the right, she rolled over and over again, maybe if she got tired, she'd just fall asleep...

"..."

But well, she was wrong. Now, she just had herself running out of breath and she couldn't sleep even more! What the heck, what was wrong with her? Was it the horror movie she watched earlier that night? Or was it the wrestling program? Which was it?

So confusing. Her mind kept receiving different thoughts that it troubled her what to actually think. Okay, okay, she should calm down. First, what to do when you couldn't sleep...?

Ah, that was it! There was Hijikata. Why didn't she think of that sooner?

. . .

Kagura immediately stood up and brought her heavy body to Hijikata's room. She didn't bother knocking as she was not in the mood to be a good girl right now. All she wanted to do was sleep.

"Tosshi, I can't sleep."

... No reaction.

"Tosshi."

Hijikata was not a heavy sleeper...

Kagura, whose brain not working properly anymore, threw her body over Hijikata who was sleeping on his back. Now she was facing the floor, her stomach hit him hard which made him wake up at the same time. Their bodies' position was forming a cross symbol...

"W-what the...? Kagura?!"

"Tosshi, I can't sleep."

"O-o-oi!"

Hijikata quickly sat up, forcing Kagura to get off of him. She sat beside him, her eyes widely opened. She was staring into space now.

"K-kagura...? Oi! Get a hold of yourself! What's wrong? Why can't you sleep?"

"If I know the answer, I won't be having difficulties, Tosshi is an idiot, idiot, idiot, idi-"

"I'm not an idiot!"

"I can't sleep. What should I do Tosshi?" She could feel Hijikata's eyes on her.

"Did you try counting a hundred sheep?"

"I'm not a kid, you stupid cigarette-addict mayonnaise guy."

"Oi, what did you say? What did you say just now? Was that how you normally call me behind my back?!"

"Shut up, idiot, idiot, idi-"

"Stop that already!"

"Hurry up Tosshi, tell me how to sleep. My eyes hurt, it won't close."

. . .

. . .

Hijikata looked at Kagura bewildered. She indeed had her eyes wide open, her black pupil was looking into the distance as though she was hypnotized by some spell. This was the first time that she couldn't sleep at night. She always said that _for a lady_, _staying up until late at night is the worst enemy of beauty_! So no doubt, she was really troubled right now.

But he didn't know what to do. He just tried suggesting things that he thought might help...

_Try listening to music_...?

Her answer; _I did and it made my eyes open wider_.

_Try remembering good memories_...?

Her answer; _I did and it made me vomit as all I remembered were bad memories with the stupid brat_.

_..._

_Alright, try drinking hot chocolate or anything hot_...

Her answer: _There wasn't a hot chocolate drink to drink_.

_Of course, you have to make one yourself_!

Hijikata heaved a sigh. He couldn't say that one sentence to her...

"Fine, I'll make one now. Wait there."

...

Kagura drank the hot chocolate he made, but it seemed as though she couldn't sleep at it either. Why? They said that drinking hot drink at night would help you fall asleep faster... He scratched the back of his head, thinking of other ways to help someone fall asleep.

"Ah, right, Kagura. Maybe you have to do something that will make you very tired. With that, you'll fall asleep in no time, no doubt."

"I did that, I rolled over and over and over but I still can't sleep eih."

"No, I meant... Really tired. Like, you have to walk around or exercise or something..."

"Ah I see! Tosshi I'll be going outside then. I'll walk around the Kabuki City, see you later."

"Wai... Oi!"

Hijikata was about to stop her but she was already gone. Honestly... He didn't mean it like that! And he didn't want her to walk around at night, it was dangerous. But then he knew better. She would come back home safe, and hopefully she'd be able to sleep by then.

* * *

Phew xD I know I took some scenes from the original manga/anime. I was feeling guilty when I was editing this too, but I guess I couldn't help it when I was writing this, I just changed some parts. Lol! I loved those scenes...

**EDIT: PS**. Kondou-san is just being paranoid xD Smile Snack Club isn't a place for that! Lolz he's just imagining it to be, of course with his Otae-san, and he's just dragging Hijikata with his pervertedness. Hahaha :D

Have a good day/night everyone and thank you!


	10. Chapter 10: Still can't sleep

**A/N**: I'm sorry for delay! Me and my mother went on a trip to a different prefecture and there was no internet, I also didn't bring my laptop. We had fun, but well here is the chapter.

Anyway, I Hope you enjoy! Thank you for reading and thank you **Yami no Saku-chan(Kagura fan111223)**, **Guest**-san, **dente-di-leone**, **Conny C**,**HeheSmile**, **Laura**, **Dokiprez**, **Kokita **and** Resha Tsubaki **for the reviews. :D

**Warning**: Romance is on the air! I think everyone at least changes if in love, Okita should be no exception. Lol

**Disclaimer**: I do NOT own Gin-tama anime/manga and its characters except for this storyline.

* * *

Chapter 10:

Still can't sleep

Somehow... He woke up in the middle of the night. When he looked at the available clock in the room, the short hand was already pointing at twelve and the long hand was pointing at six. Twelve thirty in the midnight...

It was rare for him to wake up at that hour. He was a heavy sleeper. When he slept at night, he slept. No bombs or canons would wake him up. Though it was different in the morning...

Okita turned over to his left side. Was the china girl sleeping well...? Was she having dreams right now? Or nightmares? Did she sleep with lights on or not? Was she a heavy sleeper like him?

Several questions that involved Kagura kept circling in his head. Why was it that when he was awoke, she'd cross his mind like it was a natural thing? There was absolutely something wrong with him. But he didn't know what it was. He just knew that he wanted her attention, that he was looking forward to waking up the next day after everyday just to see her face, that he had her in his mind every now and then... Why was that?

Even if he asked, no one would answer.

Okita closed his eyes firmly. He could still sleep... But as he was on the process of falling back into sleep, he heard a small thud against the door to his room. At first it was small... then it got louder. He sat up, waiting for something to happen. His room was dark, only with the help of the full moon that there was a light shining on the corner like a lampshade doing its job.

That was enough for him to see through the darkness. He was thankful to his sharp eyesight. Okita remained quiet until the thud went gone. What was that? It couldn't possibly be Hijikata. What about Kagura? No, that was even more impossible... But what was that really?

He focused his eyes on the door. Suddenly, it opened and a small familiar figure had slumped down on the floor. He raised an eyebrow, realizing who it was... What was she doing in there?!

He was going to stand up and walk to her if it weren't for her sudden move. She used both her hands to support her body, and she began crawling towards him.

"...an't... Sl...p..."

"Oi... What are you doing...? What did you say...?"

"...ill... an't... sleep..."

Okita couldn't hear her mumbles clearly. He couldn't move his body now, just a while ago he was thinking about her and now she was there in front of him. On top of that, she was creeping into his futon!

"...Still can't sleep, you bastard!"

That shocked him. He dodged her uppercut this time, did she sneak into his room just to fight with him? He grabbed her shoulder. And what did she mean by she couldn't sleep?

"What are you trying to do china girl?"

"...Why can't I still sleep, Tosshi..."

_Tosshi_.

He stared at her face. So she thought he was Hijikata. That was not funny. Oh wait. Her face looked rather... funny? Aside from her untied hair that was messy, her eyes were wide open, and it looked as though her eyeballs were bulging out. Her black pupils were staring off into a distant.

"Too bad for you, I'm not Hijikata-san."

"..."

Okita said that with the intention of embarrassing her but he was startled when she brought her face near his instead, both his hands still on her shoulder. She then took hold of his arms...

"Oh it's you, brat... I can't sleep eh, hurry up, tell me how to sleep. I already tried counting sheep, listening to music, drinking hot drink, tiring myself... Still I can't sleep. Now I don't know how to sleep anymore, I can't remember anymore how I usually fall asleep now that I can't sleep, I forgot how to fall asleep so how do I sleep if I forgot how to fall aslee-"

"You're saying the word '_sleep sleep_' too many times!"

"I want to sleep already. My eyes hurt. Hurry up, tell me how to sleep or I'm going to kill you, damn you."

"..." Okita didn't say anything.

More like, he couldn't say anything. What to do? He could just let the girl be troubled all by herself but he wouldn't do that. Why was that he didn't know himself... Oh well.

"Ahh, I know. You're still a kid, you need bedtime stories."

"What did you say, bastard? You want to die right now ahh?"

"Alright, alright, I'm going to tell you a story, listen carefully and you'll know the magic of bedtime stories."

Kagura didn't react anymore so he figured out she was going to listen. Not that she had any other choice. She looked so desperate to fall asleep already that she'd take any possible way to do so. And so, he told her to sit down facing him, she did as told, then he began his storytelling...

. . .

. . .

After ten minutes...

"...then the girl realized that she really loved her pet. One day, she went back to where she left it. It was in the playground. Few meters away from her, she saw the figure that she'd been wanting to see all this time. She ran towards it, but when she saw it... Tears fell down her face. It was already dead. She crouched down and hugged it, but she stopped crying when she heard someone speak behind her.

It was an old man. He told her how that pet never left that spot as if waiting for someone to come. Tears fell down her face once again but she noticed a change in the old man's voice...

'But don't worry... It's still alive.

Inside me!'

The old man's face broke in half, letting out a black pig with red eyes and long sharp fangs then it jumped on the girl's head-"

"suu..."

"..."

... What the...?

"Hey.

What the heck... That's boring. How come she fell asleep with that? And I was on the good part too."

Kagura fell asleep without changing positions. For him, it looked quite uncomfortable sleeping while sitting. Thinking it was bothersome, he decided to just let her sleep on half of his futon instead of carrying her to her room. Luckily, there was enough space for two people.

He took her shoulder on his left arm and her legs on his right one... It was the first time he ever carried someone in a bridal way. She wasn't heavy so it was less effort though. He then felt a bit nervous all of a sudden. He was feeling that rapid heart beat again...

He did his best ignoring it... He had to ignore it. Just ignore it... Okita put the china girl down on the left side of the futon, but as he was about to completely let go of her, she grabbed him wrapping her arms around his neck, _tight_.

Ow, ow, ow. He couldn't breathe! Okita placed his arms beside Kagura's head and just a little, her hold on him loosened. Finally, he could free himself from...

"..." Okita's body froze.

Her face was close to his again. He had the chance to stare at her to his heart's content. But that wasn't what made him unable to move. He was reminded how she was really pale, that even at a dark room like his... she could be clearly seen. Added the effect of the moon that shone through the window.

For a moment, he thought she was beautiful.

"Haah. Look what you've done to me china girl... I've become this weird..."

Okita was hovering over her body, her arms were wrapped around his neck and their faces were inches close. Plus, his heart beat that was panicking, its sound thumping within his ears. At a silent place like that, only their breathing and his loud heart beat could be heard. Actually, it was a bit suffocating.

He stared at her face for a few more seconds. It wouldn't be bad to do what he was thinking of doing now, right...? Okita let their foreheads touched, before his lips slowly... found hers.

"...unn..."

Too focused on her soft lips, Okita jolted when he heard her mutter something. He lifted his head to look at her.

Wait... Wait, wait... what?!

Just now... What did he... Did he just kiss her...?! But... It was a first for him. Was it her first too...? And was a girl's lips this soft? Or was it because it was Kagura that he felt good about it...? That was... Wait, that was unbelievable! Why did he kiss her?! He could feel his face getting hot, for sure he was turning red. That was so much out of his character! Someone, someone tell him what to do...!

Recently, when he was with the china girl, his heart beat would get fast as if it was being ran after by something... He wanted her attention, he'd get irritated at Hijikata who Kagura depended on so much... he was jealous of their closeness.

... Ahh ... His irritation was because he was jealous... So that was why...

Okita found himself kissing her for the second time that night.

Since when did he fall for this china girl?

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

When Hijikata woke up, it was still a little dark outside. The first thing to cross his mind was yesterday night's happening. Kagura didn't come back to his room so he guessed she was able to sleep after all? He did feel her presence when she came back home but his eyes were already too heavy to even blink so he slept like that without checking on Kagura's condition.

Well, if she was able to sleep then all was good. He had to prepare for the day's work anyway, perhaps he should visit her room once he go to the kitchen to eat...

And he did exactly that. But there was one problem. Kagura wasn't in her room. She was not in her room. Unconsciously, Hijikata looked on the way to Okita's room. He then walked towards it...

No, that couldn't be, right? Yeah of course, there was no way ...

...

Hijikata's mind went blank when he saw what he saw. Yes, what he saw was something he shouldn't have seen, or something he didn't want to see. Confusing right? But what he was seeing was even more confusing!

Kagura was in Okita's futon, sleeping like an angel, as in like... totally comfortable. And! And the boy was sleeping like a devil hovering over the cute little angel... He had his right arm lying across Kagura's neck while Kagura had her right arm hanging over Okita's left shoulder... It looked as if they were hugging before falling asleep! On top of that, the light brown-haired brat had one of his legs over Kagura...

Dah! What was happening?! What was he seeing? Was it imagination? Was he dreaming? Was it a nightmare?

_Wake up, me! Wake up, Hijikata Toshirou!_

Oiiii! What was going on really?! Why, in the world, was Kagura at Okita's room sleeping and in a position like that?!

"..."

_Hijikata Toshirou, today, you officially damaged your own brain, with the lack of mayo energy drink_.

"..."

Somehow, he thought he heard someone spoke within his head.

"-mayo."

"What's going on, mayo."

* * *

I just noticed, when I was editing... I put quite number of canon scenes in the manga(the supposed-to-be horror part of this fic)... o.o But I twisted them. What the...? I'm so sorry for that! Next time, I won't. I swear. =.="

And poor Hijikata-san. xD Don't worry, he'll be back into normal too! Lol anyone read the latest chapter of Gintama? Freaking awesome!

**SPOILER**:

Gender Bend arc... So hilarious! I can't take Kagura's gender bent though, grah... but at the same time, it was hilarious. But seriously! Lol and Okita... Well Hijikata is probably the funniest one. But I still love him, he's so cute!

END of Spoiler. (I think that was a spoiler? Or maybe not.)

Anyway have a good day/night everyone! 2 chapters left for this fanfic to end. (Then maybe, an extra will come)


	11. Chapter 11: Shinsengumi

**A/N**: I'm in the Philippines right now! Had flight on March 30. Sorry for late! How is everyone? :D And next chapter is last, but I'll probably write an extra for this! If not, then a new OkiKagu fic... next time I'll put HijiMitsu. */* or maybe another OkiKaguHiji xD But I'm definitely planning to write an OkiKagu/HijiMitsu fic!

Anyway, I Hope you enjoy! Thank you so much for reading and thank you **Yami no Saku-chan(Kagura fan111223)**, **Guest**-san, **dente-di-leone**, **Conny C**,**HeheSmile**, **Laura**, **Dokiprez**,**Kokita**,** Resha Tsubaki **and **PrincessofChina07** for the reviews. Replies at the end.

**Warning II**: Another "Romance is in the air" kind of chapter.

**Disclaimer**: I do NOT own Gin-tama anime/manga and its characters except for this storyline.

* * *

Chapter 11:

Shinsengumi

Sukonbu... Sukonbu... Sukonbu...

Kagura grinned, her eyes sparkling as she hugged the packs of sukonbu in front of her. She was in a sukonbu paradise! Who'd have thought that this awesome place existed?!

While humming, she began opening one. She was about to take the sukonbu to her mouth when suddenly, she heard a small voice whispering... from somewhere. She then bit on her favorite snack as she focused her ears on the sound.

_Ayo_-

Hm?

-_mayo_...

Hah?

"What's going on in here-mayooooo!"

With that, the sukonbu paradise she was enjoying went all gone like a bubble and she was back to the reality. Kagura opened her eyes and automatically, her left hand went to her eye. Somehow... she felt like her body couldn't move well.

"So noisy early in the morning eih... Tosshi... and what's with the mayo, did you finally awaken into your original self-"

"What are you doing here?"

"Huh? Why wouldn't I be? This is my room."

"No... No, damn it, are your eyes really open already?!"

"What are you saying, Tosshi-"

Kagura's voice immediately got stuck on her throat as she saw the light brown strands of hair on the corner of her eyes. She slowly moved her head to her right. Her jaw dropped the moment she saw what shouldn't have been there beside her face. Right, beside her face was another face. And it was not an ordinary face. It was the _face_ of that stupid... brat... Okita!?

"Y-y-y-you, perverted brat! How dare you enter into a lady's room huh!"

She punched Okita on his stomach in which he instantly woke up from. He yelled in pain and when he rolled over to the other side letting her free from under him, she jumped up and ran towards Hijikata.

"That hurts! What the heck are you doing?!"

"You attacked me, didn't you?! You couldn't resist my cuteness so you attacked me while I was sleeping, didn't you?! Give me back my womanity, you cherry boy bastard!"

"What did you say! And are you an idiot? This is my room. You were the one who creeped into my room! Talk about someone attacking someone."

Okita stood up and Kagura grabbed his collar.

"Who's in her right mind would attack someone like you? You wanna fight, damn you, ahh?"

"Heh~ bring it on, china girl."

. . .

_What are they doing?_

_..._

_Why are they flirting in front of me?_

_..._

_No, before that... Did they forget I'm here?_

_..._

_Am I not needed here?_

_..._

_Wait, seriously. What are these two doing?!_

"Oi, I'm existing here you know!"

Hijikata snapped, not liking how he was being ignored. With his loud voice, Kagura and Okita who were pulling on each other's hair stopped then looked his way.

"I'm asking, what's going on. Why is Kagura in your room Okita?"

"Ehhh?! This is his room for real?!"

Hijikata sighed, waiting for an answer.

"Ah, Hijikata-san. That... I didn't know that this little companion you have here is a very aggressive woman, she didn't let me sleep easily. Then when I thought I'd be a nice guy and do what she was begging me to do, she slept on me. How cruel was that?"

"Oi, stop your sexual harassment, you bastard! You make me sick, you really wanna die, don't you? I'll gladly take your head, if that's what you wish oi."

"I get it now."

Hijikata crossed his arms in front of his chest as he exhaled, letting out the breath he didn't realize he'd been keeping in. He glanced at Kagura who had this troubled expression, she was probably too shocked at the moment. He then tapped her shoulder. Then she looked at him for a few seconds before turning her gaze away. Hijikata felt a bit off with that... Why did she look somewhat guilty when she hadn't done anything bad? Ignoring the disturbing feeling in his chest, he left Okita's room with Kagura following him right after.

. . .

After the awkward morning of eating with Kagura who was completely quiet and Okita who only repeatedly stabbed on the ham, he quickly went off to work. To be honest, he wasn't feeling good about leaving the two youngsters alone in the house after what he saw but he couldn't do anything about that matter. He could only convince himself that they'd be fine... especially Kagura.

Hijikata arrived in the Shinsengumi headquarters and the commander greeted him right away. His bad mood was washed off a little bit.

"Oyo, Toshi! Good morning!"

"G'morning Kondou-san..."

"Arara? What happened? Did the china girl forget to bring you your cup of tea?"

"...What do you mean Kondou-san...?"

"Eh nevermind, that aside Toshi! I heard you're keeping new companion with you."

"Where did you hear that from?"

"So, so, who is it? A boy? A girl?"

"You just ignored my question! And he's a boy, why do you ask Kondou-san?"

"Hooh! Good timing! I'm going to Kyoto today to search for new members of the Shinsengumi. You should try to invite that boy to join us!"

Hijikata widened his eyes at what the commander just said. He didn't think of that... He could invite Okita to join them, he said before that he excelled in swordsmanship, it would be a waste if he didn't develop his skill.

"Kondou-san, you can also suggest good ideas at times huh. I'll tell him that."

Hijikata nodded as he began walking off towards the meeting room of the Shinsengumi headquarter, leaving the commander who was whispering to himself.

"What _at times_? Just now, he indirectly said that most of the time, I don't have good things to say, didn't he...?"

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

"Oi Okita, tell me."

"What?"

"You... You didn't do something weird to me yesterday night, did you?"

Okita stared at Kagura, his palm sweating for many reasons. First, if he said he didn't, it would be a lie. Second, if he did say that he did something... that he kissed her, she would strangle him to death for sure. Then last, he was actually nervous about it even now. He didn't even mean to do that, it just happened. Well, at least the first one...

"I wonder?"

"Unbelievable! Hurry up, tell me what sin you committed!"

"Oi, don't make it sound like I've done something that bad."

"Whatever, what happened? What did really happen huh?!"

This girl was so noisy! What should he do so she'd be satisfied already? His heart was still frantic remembering that 'kiss' and here she was, clutching on his arm _tightly_. Though it was a different one from those romantic scenes where the woman was clutching on the man because she was seducing him. This one was completely different. She was clutching on his arms like how a crab would do on anything it touched. She wouldn't let go of him, and was it his imagination? It felt as if her hold on him was tightening every second.

"..."

"Ow! What are you doing?!"

"Confess your sin now!"

"Fine little princess, you really want to know? If so, then I assume you're prepared."

"What?"

He stepped forward, closing their distance. Kagura still had her hands dug on his arms but they loosened for a bit when he brought his face right in front of hers. He saw how her eyes slowly went wider and he took the chance of brushing her hands off as they switched their roles now. He was the one in control, unlike earlier. He smirked, and Kagura gulped.

"Bastard! Don't confess your sin anymore! You're forgiven already eih!"

"Oh no, you don't."

Okita firmly held her, he could tell that she was also holding back her strength. Kagura glared at him, he couldn't hide his annoyance. Why did she act like he was some kid, she wasn't even aware that she was left all alone with a _man_ everyday. She was a woman and he was a man, he didn't care what her age was, she was still a woman!

"That's what I don't like you know? What do you think of me? Why are you glaring? At times like this, you should be aware that I'm a man and you're a woman. And there's just the two of us here now."

He pulled her to him, his right hand now on the small of her back. With that, Kagura widened her eyes even more.

"That's it, that's how your expression should be."

"What are you..."

"Huh?"

"You... You were a sadist all this time? I see... so that's why! You love S&M play!"

_Snap_. Just now, Okita thought he heard a stick snapping in two. He could feel his hands shaking in frustration. Kagura complained how he should already let go of her but he wouldn't do that. Of course not... not when the woman he's obsessing over was inside his arms like that. And especially not when it was her fault that he felt messed up.

He didn't waste anymore minute, his lips found hers, bringing him back to yesterday's passion. Her lips were indeed soft. Their current kiss was only light, no one was moving at all. Kagura was certainly too shocked with what was occurring but Okita only closed his eyes as he took the kiss to another level. He tilted his head to the side, his left hand held the back of Kagura's head. Then he made her tilt her head to the opposite side, allowing him to deepen their kiss. Okita couldn't describe what he was feeling... The irritation that was bugging him earlier was somewhere off now. Instead, there was a small warm feeling spreading through his chest.

...

"...hmn!" Okita stopped the kiss as he let go of the china girl.

"W-w-what, you! T-t-that was my first kiss, bastard, you just stole it!"

"Correction little brat, that was the third."

"Wha―?"

Okita smirked, feeling victorious this time. Kagura had her face as red as tomato, and it was because of _him_. Not because of Hijikata nor anyone else.

* * *

Replies:

**Dokiprez** - Yes! Lol Kagura really loves Sukonbu :D And thank you so much! I'm so happy that you love this fic! I'm sorry for delay, I'll update the last chapter quick! But I'll probably write an extra for this. Cause I am missing it already xD Thank you for your support all this time!*hugs*

**PrincessofChina07** - Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked this fic! :D *hug*

**HeheSmile** - Yes : ( This was originally a 12-chapter-multi fic so yeah... only 12 chapters were written, but I'll probably write an extra. I'm still not sure, depends on my time... But I'm already missing this. Roar T.T Thank you for your continued support! *hugs you too*

**Dente-di-leone** - Thank you so much! : ) Sorry for delay! Thank you for your continue support too *hugs you also*


	12. Chapter 12: Rivalry

**A/N**: Okay... I woke up in the middle of the night(or dawn cause it's 2:31 am here) and remembered this fic. And OMFORK! Didn't realize the days were so fast... -.-" Anyway, this is the last chapter! I think the ending was satisfying... well at least, to me... but if not, I'm sorry! Please do let me know if you think an extra should be added or something, or if this is fine as it is. I'm gonna miss this fic so much. : ( Please feel free to let me know what you think!

Thank you everyone for reading and thank you for all the support: **Yami no Saku-chan(Kagura fan111223)**, **Guest**-san, **dente-di-leone**, **Conny C**,**HeheSmile**, **Laura**,**Dokiprez**,**Kokita**,** Resha Tsubaki **and **PrincessofChina07**. Replies at the end.

**Japanese word inside! It's a pun intended for the word Shinsengumi. The meaning is at the end note, so please see that to understand the joke.**

**Disclaimer**: I do NOT own Gin-tama anime/manga and its characters except for this storyline.

* * *

Last Chapter:

Rivalry

When Hijikata arrived at their house, he immediately noticed the awkward atmosphere between Kagura and Okita. He didn't like the feeling of being left out but he decided not to say anything for the meantime as he had other things he wanted to discuss about.

"Okita, have you ever considered working together with police officers?"

"What are you saying Hijikata-san? Can I even be a police officer at this age-"

"You can. As long as you have the skills and I know that you are good at swordsmanship. To get to the point, my commander at Shinsengumi told me that he'll be hiring new members... He asked me if I could get you to join us."

"...are there any other requirements?"

"There will only be an application form you need to fill up but that's easy, if you decide to join us, let me know."

"I'll join Hijikata-san."

Hijikata almost dropped his cigarette at Okita's quick decision. He looked at the younger boy who had his usual pokerface on. Hijikata would probably never know what the boy was thinking, so much mystery around him. But honestly? How could he decide that fast!

"I'll give you time to think, you don't have to rush."

"My decision is made Hijikata-san. I'll join that Shinkansengumi."

"It's Shinsengumi, alright... Not shinkansengumi."

"Ah yes, that's it. Anyway I'll be going to sleep now. Rest In Peace Hijikata-san."

"Oiii! What do you mean _Rest In Peace_? Shouldn't that be goodnight instead?!"

What was wrong with him?! Hijikata sighed as Okita completely disappeared off into his own room. Kagura was in her room now too. Hijikata was left all alone in the sofa and he was trying to figure out what was going on. Why was Okita being even more rude like that to him and why was Kagura not being the usual loud girl she was... Also, normally she would welcome him with a huge grin whenever he came back home from work but that night, she didn't even look at him or greeted him 'welcome home'. It was as though he was an air!

Something was definitely wrong... Hijikata stood up from the sofa. Asking himself wouldn't help him, he had to talk to Kagura.

. . .

Inside Kagura's room was a gloomy atmosphere, she was on her futon with the blanket covering her whole body. Hijikata raised an eyebrow as he walked and crouched down beside the girl.

"Kagura. What are you sulking there for?"

"Don't mind me Tosshi, I'm just a sick person eih. I'll be Resting In Peace now."

"What?! Oiii! What's with you and Okita saying stuffs such as rest in peace, damn it! Are you two messing around with me? You can't just rest in peace yet you know! If you do, you're dead, are you an idiot?!"

"E-eh? O-o-okita said the same thing too?"

Did Kagura just stutter? Perhaps she was really sick? She never stuttered before, but what was bothering him was that she stuttered because of Okita. What happened between the two while he was gone? No, no. He had to be positive... But what if they...? No, no, it was Kagura involved, there was no way she'd let the boy take advantage of her. Of course that was impossible, hey!

But wait, he could just get her to tell him... Right?

"K-kagura... So how was your day today... with Okita?"

"Ehhh? ...No-no-no-nothing. Wh-wh-why are yo-yo-you asking?"

What was with the robot face and the robot talk?! Now he was certain that something did happen. Something, of a big deal, for Kagura. It should be, if not, she shouldn't be acting this weird. He'd never seen her like this before, damn it.

_That guy, he was making a move while I was out. He absolutely did something to Kagura, no doubt._

Frustrated, Hijikata shook his head and he put his hand on top of Kagura's head.

"Tosshi..."

It looked as if she was about to cry, her face was as red as tomato but she wasn't hot so she didn't have a fever... Why did she have that strange look on her face...?

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

The next day, Hijikata brought Okita to the Shinsengumi headquarters. Their commander, Kondou Isao, welcomed the young boy with a bright smile and that day, Okita Sougo-the name that he wrote in on the form- officially became a member of the Shinsengumi.

. . .

Kagura was left alone in the house as both Hijikata and Okita went to Shinsengumi place. It was good that the situation was being settled over. But her mind couldn't settle even a bit! Why, that bastard Okita! How... How could he... How dare he stole her first, second and third kiss that easily?! It was infuriating, she wanted to bang his head on the wall and at the same time her head as well.

_How am I supposed to tell Tosshi about 'that'!_

With her remaining strength, Kagura stood up from her futon. She carried her heavy body until the kitchen and when she saw her sukonbu, she nibbled on it like a mouse nibbling on a cheese. She didn't know what to do or what to think. Why did he do such thing? Was it to annoy her? Was it to punish her? But since when did she give him permission to punish her? And why would she needed a punishment anyway?

Kagura went to the living room and glared at the tv screen located in front of the sofa she sat at. Glaring at the tv screen wouldn't help her solve anything at all... She knew that. But better than to space out like a total airhead.

What should she do? What should she say?

_Could I open this up to Tosshi?_

What if he became disgusted with her?!

_Noooo!_

But wait... that was quite impossible. Kagura was a hundred percent sure he'd never get disgusted with her. Well... Hijikata was important to her... She wasn't sure what she thought of him; a brother figure, a leader figure or just a man she happened to live together with. She didn't know what kind of feelings she had for him, but all she knew was that she didn't want him to hate her and she didn't want him to leave her.

However, sometimes she got this funny feeling when around Hijikata. Like at times, when he got really close to her, her heart would do a nervous flip or whenever he pat her head, she actually got embarrassed. She just didn't let Hijikata notice of it... Well, it may also just be because she never really got in a close contact like that with any other guy before, that sometimes she couldn't help but be self-conscious. She was still young, yes... but she also read girly magazines and love stories! _Out of pure curiosity_...

This is why ever since that Okita came to their house, and she would have this different kind of feeling... It greatly confused her. More of when he did _that_... Her heartbeat went crazy for the first time and she thought she was going to die. Screw that bastard.

Oh yeah, speaking of it, she needed to know how to get back at that stupid brat Okita!

...

Kagura was munching on a cupcake when she heard the creak of door letting her know that the two just got back home. When she turned her head over her shoulder, she saw Hijikata and Okita walking beside each other. Hijikata had a plastic on his hand, there must be something worth her attention in there... Okita had...well...probably what was inside that box he was holding was his uniform for the Shinsengumi.

_So he really joined them huh?_

Too bad though, no matter how much effort Okita put into it, he still wouldn't be any cooler or better than Hijikata. Kagura grinned and nodded twice to herself. It wasn't long then that something hit her head. She quickly turned her head to the side only to see Okita smirking down upon her.

"Oi, I'm a police officer now, I can put these handcuffs on you anytime you do something naughty, princess."

Okita brought the handcuffs right in front of her with a smirk on his face and it became worse when his eyes looked at her as if he was mocking her about something and one side of his curved lips turned even more upwards. What a sadist! Kagura gritted her teeth in frustration. She then stood up, grabbed his head with her hands and proceeded to headbutt him hard.

With that, Okita fell down on his butt with a groan.

"Hah! Serves you right, you stupid perverted sexual harrassment brat!"

Kagura ran off to her room right after that. Somehow, she couldn't look into Hijikata's eyes. What a problem that Okita guy gave her...

~ X ~ X ~ X ~

He couldn't control himself. Okita just always found himself teasing Kagura whenever he had the chance to. He knew that she was annoyed by it but he couldn't stop himself. He couldn't be honest with his feelings so all he did was to keep on stealing the girl's attention. And there was Hijikata. The more Okita couldn't be relaxed since he was aware of the man's affection for the girl. Hijikata had the same feelings he had for Kagura. That, he was sure of.

It was probably good that the china girl was dumb. But he thought it couldn't continue like that forever. It could be Hijikata or not but the china girl would surely be somebody's wife someday and that thought smacked Okita on the head hard. He didn't like the sound of that if it wasn't his surname that would be hers. More than Hijikata Kagura, Okita Kagura sounded better and pleasing to the ears right?

Ah, wait a minute. Why was he thinking of that anyway? He didn't even confess to her yet let alone proposed to her. How weird.

. . .

Since that day when he told Kagura that he took her kiss not just once but three times, she had been glaring at him whenever their eyes met but he didn't miss the hint of red that rose up her cheeks. It was cute... No doubt, her head was still filled with that scene, it should be replaying over and over again in her mind. Which was good and what he wanted.

If that continued, the china girl wouldn't be able to think of any other guy than him. Hijikata wouldn't stand a chance anymore―

...

"Oi... Okita. Can we talk for a moment?"

Okita was lying down as usual in the soft sofa when suddenly a rusky voice called for him. What a coincidence, and he was just thinking how Hijikata wouldn't win against him and now the very person mentioned was right there behind him.

"What is it Hijikata-san? It's too early in the morning, can you please volume down your voice?"

"What early in the morning? It's already afternoon. And I didn't have my voice loud when I called you."

"Yes yes, I got it. So what is it?"

"...It's about Kagura."

Okita turned his head to the side to look over his shoulder. Hijikata was looking at him with a more serious face than normal. Did the china girl tell him about what happened? Not that it mattered. Whether Hijikata knew about it or not, Okita wasn't bothered.

Okita had a night shift that day while it was Hijikata's day off. Unfair, while he was out there doing work, Hijikata was with Kagura. Although that was just the same as when he didn't meet them yet... now that he was with them, there was no way he was okay with it and that sucked. Worse was he couldn't do anything about it... He was new to his job, so he couldn't possibly skip yet. Ah, how annoying.

The two of them decided to talk outside since Kagura was in the house. Now they were walking by the side of a river nearby, and as it was afternoon, the sun was on its way to set down already. The blue sky earlier had already turned into fiery orange with feathery clouds scattered around. Because of the orangy sky, their surrounding looked orangy as well.

"Say... Did... something happen between you and Kagura? She's acting strange lately."

"Isn't that the normal?"

"No it's not! Be serious, I'm not joking around."

"Ah yes Hijikata-san, I almost forgot. I'd like to confirm something."

"Huh?"

"Do you plan on taking action to get the china girl?"

Okita raised an eyebrow when Hijikata almost tripped himself over a stone after hearing his straightforward question. He would laugh and mock the taller man if it weren't for the too serious atmosphere they were in right now.

"W-what do you mean by that?"

"Oh you don't need to be secretive Hijikata-san, it's very obvious."

"What?! I... That's... No, that's impossible, no I mean it's possible but no I won't, I can't―"

"Then I can do the action if you say so. Though I don't plan to back off even if you'll say you're going to make a move too."

Okita was desperate. It was the first time he ever felt some affection for a girl other than his beloved elder sister. Of course it was a different thing... His love towards his sister was purely a sibling love and he knew no one could ever replace her in his heart. But towards the china girl, it was something he never even thought he was capable of having to feel. At first, she was an annoying brat and a loud idiot for him but slowly, he began to open up with her constant caring she showed him every now and then. And before he realized it, his eyes were always following her already. He had fallen for her and he didn't know what to do.

One thing he was sure of though was that he wanted her center of attention to be him. That was why he always teased her and did things that would make her notice him. Kinda childish he admitted... But he didn't know any other way to make her look at him.

Hijikata, on the other hand, was mature to what he felt for Kagura. Okita could tell how the man's eyes would soften when he talked with the girl. Well he hadn't seen how Hijikata ever looked at other girls but somehow he was certain that those softened expression... was only towards the china girl.

"Are you sure with your feelings for her? If it's something shallow, then don't continue."

"Hijikata-san, why don't you just say that you don't want Kagura to be taken away from you?"

"Idiot! That's not what I meant. But regarding your question earlier...

If the situation calls for it, I'd definitely make a move on my own way."

"I see... Ain't that generous of you, Hijikata-san."

"Oi, I didn't say that I'm giving her to you... Not that, she was mine to begin with. But still... as long as she's with me, I won't let anyone hurt her."

Okita closed his eyes and nodded once. He probably couldn't promise that everything would go alright once he did make his move on her... Only he could make sure was that he would do his best to adjust to everything that would favor the girl... Those three kisses wouldn't be followed, not until Kagura herself let him.

. . .

"Ah, Tosshi! There you are!"

The silence that enveloped Okita and Hijikata were broken easily by a high-pitched voice that was ever so familiar. Kagura ran towards the two of them, and she was grinning like an idiot.

"Oh and the sadist."

"What's with that, oi."

"Anyway! Tosshi let's go to the supermarket! There are no foods anymore, sadist Okita come with us too!"

"Kagura, don't you mean there are no sukonbus anymore...?"

"There's no difference between sukonbu and foods, let's go!"

"There is, you know?! There is a big difference! Ah, wait, Kagura―!"

...

"...Hijikata-san, I'll definitely make her fall for me."

"...Right, bring it on."

They spoke the words of challenge to each other, of which that represented the rivalry between them as the girl walked off already leaving the two behind. Okita and Hijikata looked at each other, with Okita smirking and Hijikata sighing as he took one cigarette from its pack. They both walked fast to catch up with the girl and as if it was natural, the two of them lined up to her sides, Hijikata on her left and Okita on her right.

To Kagura, experiencing love was probably a little bit early yet but to Hijikata and Okita... They would be soon at their limit, and they just knew it.

* * *

**Shinkansengumi** is just a pun Okita used, the original word is **Shinkansen**「新幹線」 which means **Bullet train **in Japan. Shinsengumi = Shinkansengumi. Okita was making a lolz joke haha^^"

And when I wrote this, I did originally end it with an open ending since I didn't really want to break anyone's heart. But I think now... probably it's because I thought this was the best ending this fic could have... otherwise it would have a lot of drama and it would keep being dragged instead of finishing... I still hope it was enjoyable til the end though! Thank you so much everyone! You make me happy. :D

Dokiprez - I'm surprised at how fast you got to review the previous chapter! Thank you so much for the support til this moment, I hope this was not a disappointing ending. Thank you! :'D

Dente-di-leone - Thank you very much! I'm happy to hear that! T/T (I loved Hijikata's thoughts too). :D Thank you for your support!

HeheSmile - Oh waah! Reading your comment just made me nervous now... cause I don't know if the ending would satisfy you or yeah... But! Please be honest when you comment, I won't be offended! It's so I know what to improve on next time in case I made a mistake with the flow of the ending. :D Thank you so much for your support! And yes, thanks! It's so hot here. T.T

Thank you to everyone else! :D Next fic of Gintama from me will be OkiKaguHiji One-shot and OkiKagu/HijiMitsu multi-chapter. (But I'll write them first til the end so to avoid delaying updates like my others...) OH yeah I need to update them...! Tomorrow I'll work on one.

Have a good night/day!


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